A group of 5th grade boys came up with a wonderfully creative idea for their school’s talent show. They’d perform a synchronized swimming routine…on dry land!
Synchronized swimming, popularly known as water ballet, made its first appearance at the Summer Olympics in 1952, although only as a demonstration sport. But starting with the 1984 games in Los Angeles, it became a full-fledged Olympic sport. Perhaps reminded of the swimming pool extravaganzas from old movies, a lot of people looked down on synchronized swimming, dismissing it as not even being a real sport. Say what you will, synchronized swimming actually does involve a lot of skill, timing, aerobic endurance, flexibility, and strength. Perhaps that’s why it’s had such staying power: it’s still part of the Summer Olympics today. Scoring is based on factors like difficulty, patterns, shapes, overall artistic impression, and of course, synchronization. One thing that makes synchronized swimming more challenging than it might appear at first is the requirement that the swimmers’ feet do not touch the bottom of the pool during the routine.
To a hoots from the audience, the boys walk on stage wearing bathing caps, goggles, and towels around their waists. They promptly whip off the towels and toss them toward the audience, revealing the swim trunks underneath. Then they file behind a blue tarp and when Tchaikovsky’s “Swan Lake” is cued up, they launch right into a synchronized swimming routine! We don’t know what the Russian composer would have thought of water ballet but we’re sure that he, like anyone else, would have gotten a big laugh from this talent show skit.
We’ve posted the video of this hilarious land-based synchronized swimming. We’re sure you’ll get a kick out of it, so to speak!
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