Our ‘Willies are heating up parties across Southern California as temperatures warm up for summer! Check out these splashy highlights from a recent Palm Springs wedding performance.
Our Aquawillies team of male synchronized swimmers are ready to dive into private parties, weddings, corporate events, and more! Contact us at booking@aqualillies.com to book this unique entertainment option for your next soirée.
Photos by Mel Bell Photography
Last week we made a dazzling splash with the iconic brand Hermès for their Grand Soir event. Held at Frank Sinatra’s former estate in Los Angeles, the event celebrated their upcoming Spring Summer 2022 Collection. We made a splash following the fashion presentation, wearing all custom Hermès swimwear and stunning diamond jewelry! Check out the performance highlights below.
We held our breaths for much of this uncertain year, but are grateful to have come up for air for some incredible performance opportunities! Dive into some of our favorite moments from 2021 below. Wishing you a splashy New Year. Just keep swimming…
THE DREW BARRYMORE SHOW
We headed to the Hollywood Hills for a special feature on The Drew Barrymore Show. After showing Drew some of our signature moves, she and Ross Mathews hopped in with our team to give it a try, with some heartwarming commentary! Check out our experience below.
RITA ORA MUSIC VIDEO
We jumped in alongside pop sensation Rita Ora on her music video for her hit song with Sigala, “You For Me.” The weather was over one hundred degrees that day, but the pool at this beautiful John Lautner estate in Los Angeles still felt cool. Click below to watch “You For Me.”
HERMÈS GRAND SOIR
In celebration of their Spring Summer 2022 collection, Hermès held a grand soirée at Frank Sinatra’s former home on the outskirts of Los Angeles in Chatsworth, which features a beautiful pool. Following a narrative runway performance by Miranda July, we performed a watershow for this David Lynch-inspired event in all-black Hermès swimsuits and fine diamond jewelry. “Legs and arms emerged from the water in unison and one partygoer remarked, ‘this is Old Hollywood.” – Vogue
ABC’S “SING-A-LONG”
ABC’s The Queen Family Singalong featured us swimming to a live performance by One Republic to Queen’s classic, “We Are the Champions.” Shot at the historic Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel (one of our favorite venues) we were excited to reunite for a short cameo with our old friend Darren Criss from Glee! Stream it on Hulu and watch our featured swim below.
THE TODAY SHOW WITH ANITTA
Celebrating the release of her hit single “Girl from Rio,” Brazilian singer Anitta joined our Miami ‘Lillies for a colorful swim. Swimming at the recently opened Goodtime Hotel Miami Beach, this performance was featured nationally on The Today Show. Fall in love with the Girl from Rio below.
FOO FIGHTERS
In September we received a call that would turn out to be one of the most off-the-wall projects we’ve done! Inspired by Artistic Swimming at the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games, Dave Grohl (lead singer of the Foo Fighters) set out to create a music video with a highly athletic artistic swimming routine – and the band member’s faces. This was a wild ride of complicated choreography, face replacement, and fake beards (plus the opportunity to coach Jason Sudeikis on some of the sport’s vocabulary for his hilarious opening monologue). Watch below.
FROM SEA TO RISING SEA VR
Our most memorable location this year was swimming alongside fish and turtles in the kelp forests of Catalina Island, one of the Channel Islands off the coast of Southern California, in a project with a message close to our hearts! “From Sea to Rising Sea” is a live action VR musical film experience presenting viewers with a call to action to fight climate change and shows how oceans can help us get to net zero emissions. Check it out to see more!
MIAMI SUMMER WATERSHOW
Our Miami ‘Lillies were thrilled to take the stage for our annual Summer Watershow! We hold this event each year in honor of Esther Williams on August 8th, her birthday. This year, we were back in-person at The Plymouth South Beach Hotel in Miami for a splash from our ‘Lillies performers, and a cameo from our Aquawillies Merman! Proceeds from this event were donated to support the training of our USA Olympic artistic swimming athletes.
THE LATE LATE SHOW
We stopped by the classic Safari Inn, built in 1955, to light up the neon sign for a performance on The Late Late Show with James Corden. Check out our swimming cameo accompanying musical artist Jordan McGraw in some of our favorite pink swimsuits!
H&M
We joined H&M in the pool – and the Pacific Ocean! – for their ethereal body positive SS21 swimsuit campaign featuring Paloma Elsesser, where we were thrilled to swim as body doubles and contribute to the choreography. Click to watch this beautiful project.
AQUAWILLIES IN PALM SPRINGS
Our all-male ‘Willies team headed out to Palm Springs for a very special wedding performance at one of our favorite venues, the Frank Sinatra Twin Palms Estate. This year, we were thrilled to finally be able to perform at so many beautiful weddings that had been postponed in 2020.
AQUAFOLLIES
Introducing Aquafollies, our water-inspired land show features glamorous dance performances for our clients without pools! We kicked up our heels for a beautiful wedding performance at the Four Seasons Beverly Hills and a few other sparkling private events across the United States.
CAUSES WE SUPPORT
We strive toward beauty, strength and grace through inclusion and equity. Find out more information about some of the causes we support here.
Happy (healthy) holidays and a joyful new year to you and yours.
With love, the ‘Lillies and ‘Willies
Meet some of our former Olympian Aqualillies as they share their experience of competing in Artistic Swimming at the Olympic Games!
FRANCESCA “FRANKIE” OWEN (London, 2012)
Frankie represented Team Australia at the London 2012 Olympics (along with our other Australian ‘Lillies Olia, Jenny, and Eloise), and is now our Head of Aqualillies Australia as well as a Fine Art Photographer! She recently collaborated with the current Australian Artistic Swimming Olympic with “Ladies in Waiting”, an image series available as Fine Art prints through her website.
“I woke up this morning with a memory on facebook of me walking in the opening ceremony in the London Olympics, 2012. I’m now going to bed with such gratitude of coming full circle and being able to share my journey and creative eye with you all with these beautiful and talented ‘Ladies in Waiting’ for Tokyo 2020.
The ladies featured in the series are the Australian Artistic Swimming Olympians, who are on the precipice of competing at the Tokyo Olympics. This collection is my most personal yet, bringing me back to my own Olympics experience in 2012 where I wasn’t able to compete in the team event; naturally I was devastated but it is a reminder that at times life is unsynchronised and that there’s beauty in the imperfection.
It felt serendipitous to create this series, at the pool I used to train in and was a deep privilege to capture these talented athletes through my lens. This was ever more surreal as I could relate to their experience, and so intimately understand how they might be feeling.
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I hope you enjoy this series, and can take some positive meaning away from the collection. After all, we are all Ladies in Waiting, in some way or another… good luck to the dedicated ladies, finally able to get their time in Tokyo 💫”
MARGA CRESPÍ (London, 2012)
Our California ‘Lilly Marga is an Olympic Champion from Spain, winning the Bronze Medal in the Team Event at the London 2012 Olympics. After her Olympic career, she went on to coach artistic swimming teams around the world, and swam in the Wynn Las Vegas show “La Rêve” as well. Marga performs with Aqualillies in live events and on-camera projects!
“I am super lucky to say that I’ve been in the Olympics in different roles. In 2012 I was a swimmer and we were fighting for the medal, which we won. In 2016 I went as a coach for the Colombian duet and the experience felt completely different. As a swimmer, you have control and you know what you have to do. As a coach, you teach through your experience. But you don’t have control, since you’re not the one in the pool.
Being a swimmer brought me a lot of experience and learning and I was grateful to pass this knowledge on the Colombian duet. I never imagined that I could connect with them so well to lead them, with the head coach Paula Garcia, to their second Olympic Games.
If you have passion for something, it’s beautiful to share it with others that seek the same. It’s been a beautiful journey to experience both sides in my sport.”
Our Vegas ‘Lilly Nadine is a two-time Olympian, representing Austria in the Beijing 2008 and the London 2012 Olympics. After her Olympic career, she went on to swim in the Wynn Las Vegas show “La Rêve” until it shuttered during the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020. Nadine performs with Aqualillies in events across the US West Coast, and is a featured performer in Cirque Du Soleil’s Las Vegas show “Ô”.
“People often asked me what it was like to compete in the Olympics and I often felt like ‘indescribable’ sums it up the best. It is an overwhelming experience on so many levels, but what stuck out to me, that in a way it felt like coming home. When I walked through the Olympic village, I knew that this was the one place in the world at this time, where all like-minded athlete came together that worked so hard for their dream. Everyone here was going through similar hard work, dedication, sacrifices to achieve this lifetime dream called Olympic Games. It was like the air was energized with this magic.
At my second Olympic Games in London 2012 my family was able to be in the audience and watch. Me and my partner had quite a good swim, and it meant the world to me that I had my family cheering in the crowd and experiencing those days with me, that we have worked so hard for every single day over so many years.”
MARGAUX CHRÉTIEN (Rio 2016)
Following the Rio 2016 Olympics, Margaux Chrétien, one half of the France duet, joined Aqualillies Europe! She shared a few words with us about her experience this past summer at the Olympic games.
“A Rio, j’ai vécu mes plus grosses émotions en terme de sport. Tout était grand, tout était beau (évidemment on embellit tout quand c’est nos premiers jeux) mais surtout une phrase revenait sans cesse: on y est ou encore ça y est, c’est MAINTENANT… évidemment ça met de la pression car tout le monde est méga prête, tout le monde est à son top niveau la compétition était passionnante, nous étions 5 duos à nous battre pour la 8e place ça n’était pas une médaille , mais nous avons vécu cette 8e place comme telle le plus agréable c’est que au moment de la compétition, tout paraissait limpide… nous avons répété nos chorés énormément de fois et dans des situations très différentes… nous étions prêtes à tout affronter. Je me souviens encore de cette montée d’adrénaline à chaque fois que nous sortions de la chambre d’appel pour avancer vers la plage de départ. C’était fou. Aujourd’hui je me demande comment j’ai fais pour ne pas flancher. C’était l’étape ultime de ma carrière, les JO, l’évênement que le monde entier suit, les personnes que j’aime le plus au monde étaient présentes dans les gradins. Quand nous avons su que nous étions 8e, nous avons pleuré de joie. Ca ne pouvait pas être plus parfait!”
“In Rio, I felt the most amazing emotions for this sport. Everything was so grand, so beautiful (it was my first Olympics so I felt like a little kid!), and I kept telling myself: Here we are! This is it, it’s right NOW! Obviously we had to deal with a lot of pressure because all the athletes were so prepared, and everybody was at their best for this event. The competition was intense, there were 5 duets fighting for the 8th place in the preliminaries. It wasn’t a medal, but we proudly took 8th place. The most powerful feeling is that, in the moment of the competition, everything feels so natural. We worked so hard in so many competitions leading up to Rio, we were so ready! I still remember the rush of adrenaline when we went out from the call room. It was crazy!!
Actually, now, I’m asking myself how did I not gave up! It was the ultimate step of my career, the Olympics Games, the event that everybody in the world is following. All the people I love the most in my life were in the pool bleachers, and when we knew that we were 8th, we immediately started weeping with joy. It could not have been better!”
This year was full of unexpected waves for our world, and as it comes to a close, we take a moment for reflection and gratitude for the opportunities that did swim our way. Starting the year with live performances and then moving virtual, our ‘Lillies still found ways to make a splash, around the world and on-screen. Dive in with us to some of our favorite moments from 2020!
Inspired by the classic mid-century water ballet films, Black is King featured a team of 26 artistic swimmers at the “Godfather” Beverly House in Beverly Hills, CA. “What an empowering experience not only swimming with Beyoncé, but with my fellow African American Swimmers. We are very rare in this particular art form/sport and what an incredible opportunity Beyoncé, JaQuel Knight and the rest of her amazing team, created for us; a platform where we could shine in our truest form…” – ‘Lilly Tori. Click here for more about our performance in Black Is King.
Our Summer Watershow in honor of Esther Williams was a little different – we took it virtual! This year’s performance featured our ‘Lillies around the world coming together to pay homage to Esther and celebrate some of her most loved performances. Virtual events were a special and new part of this year, an opportunity to share our show safely and across the world.
Aquawillies proved that they can make anything work when they flipped off the high dive for Sam Smith and Demi Lovato in corsets and heels. Favorite part: framing Demi during her close-up! Check out our ‘Willies in “I’m Ready.”
We slid into Usher’s pool to amp up the party in our favorite two-toned swimsuits. Check out the ‘Lillies in “Don’t Waste My Time.”
Our Cake Dancers sparkled at a private event with a golden hour performance.
LIVE SHOWS
Before we were social distancing, we were jumping in for live performances all over the world! Here are a few of our favorite moments from this year – and we look forward to diving in with you again in 2021.
Aquawillies at Jesse Tyler Ferguson & Justin Mikita’s Baby Shower
The Ritz Carlton South Beach Re-Opening
Ace Hotel & Swim Club Palm Springs Wedding
Los Angeles Athletic Club Fitness Class
Happy, healthy holidays and a joyful new year to you and yours. With love, the ‘Lillies and ‘Willies