Though ballet isn’t an Olympic sport, there will be several events in the upcoming Beijing Olympics (officially opening today) that ballet dancers can naturally appreciate. One of these events is rhythmic gymnastics, which I covered in this post several weeks ago. Another event that dancers might easily appreciate: “synchronized swimming,” the sport originally known as “water ballet.”

Water “Ballet”

Water ballet officially began with Annette Kellerman, who was born July 6, 1886 in Marrickville, Sydney, Australia. As a child, Kellerman suffered from rickets, a disease that softens and weakens a person’s bones. To combat this disease and strengthen her legs, Kellerman spent her entire childhood swimming. This experience thrust her into a life of aquatic competition and performance. ¹

At the London Hippodrome in 1905, Kellerman combined her love of theater with her love for swimming, and

she performed swimming, diving, and underwater dancing in a giant glass tank.

Kellerman’s career took off after she performed in America in 1906. She even replaced Anna Pavlova in The Big Show of 1916 at The Hippodrome, the largest theatre in New York City at the time. ²

After Kellerman’s influence, Kay Curtis founded a water ballet club at the University of Chicago in 1923. ³ And, in 1934 Curtis introduced synchronized swimming at the Chicago World’s Fair. Afterward, schools in the Chicago area started forming synchronized swimming teams. ⁴

After World War II, synchronized swimming, or simply “synchro” as it’s often called today, spread throughout the world. Olympic athletes first won medals in synchro at the Los Angeles Games in 1984, the same year that rhythmic gymnastics made its official Olympic debut. ⁵

Art and Skill

One of a dancer’s challenges is to execute difficult combinations while making the movement look effortless. This is also true for synchro swimmers.

Learning when to breathe during a performance is one skill that helps both dancers and synchro swimmers turn their movements into art. Swimmers may have an advantage over dancers because water buoyancy supports a swimmer’s body. But, at the same time, a dancer doesn’t risk drowning if he or she breathes at the wrong time!

Synchronized Swimming Scores

As in ballet, technically, synchro requires a combination of certain movements choreographed to music. Olympic synchro is performed in either a duet or a team format.

In a technical routine—performed either as a duet or a team event—swimmers perform a set routine of specific moves in a specific order, set to certain music. But in a free routine—for both duet and team

events—swimmers perform a self-choreographed routine. There are no restrictions on choreography or music in a free routine: it’s the swimmers’ real chance to demonstrate both their skill and artistry.

Olympic judges score synchro much like they score figure skating. Two panels award scores: one panel scores on technical merit, and the second panel awards points based on artistic impression. Synchro swimmers can win up to ten total points. ⁶

Women Only

As with rhythmic gymnastics, Olympic synchro is only for women. And so, this sport has another thing in common with ballet: people sometimes ridicule the men who participate.

A recent article highlighted 18-year-old Kenyon Smith, named as the only male currently competing in synchro in the United States. Smith’s predecessor Bill May pioneered male synchro in the United States, and he competed throughout the mid-nineties. But in 2004, May retired from synchro, and he now performs in the Las Vegas Cirque du Soleil show O. ⁷

Smith said he hopes the 2012 Olympics will allow male synchro. Back in 2000, the coach of the US synchro team said that she supported the inclusion of male synchro swimmers in the Olympics. “It will take the choreography to a new level,” she said. “Mixed pairs is something we’re used to in figure skating. Why not synchronized swimming?” ⁸

But Ginny Jasontek, an Olympic official and the president of United States Synchronized Swimming, said, “We cannot allow men in a women’s sport,” justifying her stance by reminding fans and athletes, “men don’t compete against women in gymnastics.” ⁹

2008 Beijing Synchro

If you’d like to watch any of the “water ballet” synchro events during this year’s Olympic games, you can check out the Beijing schedule at this link, and you can also check this link for more details on the schedule.

Photo Credits:

• The Hippodrome Theatre
• Synchronized swimming school, Moscow (Vladimir Vyatkin, Russia, Ria-Novosti)
• Sculpture at the site of the 2008 Olympic sailing competition
• Kenyon Smith with Santa Clara Aquamaids in 2005 (Credit: Meryl Schenker/Seattle Post-Intelligencer)