It has been quite the decade for Aquabatix. From appearing weekly on prime time TV, to jet setting across the globe to perform in front of royalty and celebrities and at pool parties for well known brands and product launches. We also set up a group in Los Angeles, lifted James Corden out the water in a synchronised swimming routine and featured alongside the Muppets.
We take a moment to look back our our top ten highlights of the decade. In no particular order…
Britain’s Got Talent: Back in 2012, when Britain was welcoming the world for the Olympic Games and the Queen was celebrating her Diamond Jubilee, Aquabatix formed an underwater act called Aquabatique to compete in Britain’s Got Talent. Along with the Aquatheatre, the four women displayed their incredible talents performing underwater in the portable tank, to reach the final. Unique, memorable and Simon Cowell “was completely blown away” by their performances. With 38 million views of their audition on YouTube, Aquabatique went on to secure a long term residency show at Yas Waterworld in Abu Dhabi as well as performing for Stella McCartney’s Adidas fashion show and Nivea’s Dare to Bare campaign.
Hearst Castle: Perhaps the most iconic building in California, Hearst Castle became the stage for Aquabatix USA back in 2018. Having gone through a four year renovation and once the venue for owner William Randolph Hearst’s infamous pool parties for Hollywood stars, the pool was restored to its former glory. A soiree and swim party was thrown to celebrate with guests paying to experience the water, which isn’t normally open to the public. Aquabatix USA was invited to perform their 1920’s style show for the crowd, whilst the sun set behind them along the pacific coastline. Aquabatix USA launched in LA back in 2017 to meet the growing demand for high quality synchronised swimming performances in California, with their own group of elite synchronised swimmers, including a couple of Olympians based on the west coast. As well as events for La Mer, Soho House DTLA and Ticketmaster, Aquabatix USA also provide their skills for productions and photographic shoots such as music videos, movies and campaigns like Aerie Real. More information can be found here.
Splash: In 2013 and 2014, Aquabatix was beamed into living rooms across the nation on Saturday nights performing on the ITV hit show Splash! Presented by Olympic medalist and world champion diver Tom Daley, the show featured celebrities learning dives and then competing live on national TV. Whilst the audience voted, Aquabatix took to the pool with Tom, Dive Dynamix and performers from Dancers Inc with a lively aquatic showstopper each week. From mermaids to Voguing and a circus to Hollywood glamour, the performances became the talk of the show. See some our entertaining shows from Splash here.
Bombay Bicycle Club Luna: When film director Anna Ginsburg contacted Aquabatix to appear in the new Bombay Bicycle Club music video for their song Luna, we jumped at the chance! The story was a group of synchronised swimmers in a pool training on their routine, which magically transforms them into wearing beautiful swimwear and caps whilst performing. The video was a hit, and we then got to perform the routine live with Bombay Bicycle Club on the Shoreditch House roof top in London which was something very special. Aquabatix performers also featured in music videos for Lady Gaga, Chemical Brothers, The Maccabees, John Grant, Romans, Birdy and Yumi Zouma. Catch the video for Luna here.
Burj Al Arab The Terrace Launch: In 2016, Aquabatix took a group of 16 synchronised swimmers to Dubai, to perform at the launch of the famous Burj Al Arab’s luxury terrace with two pools. The synchronised swimmers, who came from Britain, Spain and Austria, performed two routines on the night, with a set of eight girls in each pool, to live music, The performances took place in front of the guests including Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum. This isn’t the first time Aquabatix has performed in front of Royalty. In London in 2011, Aquabatix performed in front of the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge, their first public appearance at an event since their wedding. Aquabatix perform regularly across the globe, including the UAE, China, Europe and India , giving the very best high end performances for the clientele.
Swimming With Men: “We’re just a bunch of middle aged men who meet up… and make funny little patterns in the pool”. The film, Swimming With Men, hit the big screen in 2018. Based on a true story of a group of middle aged men in Sweden, who formed a synchronised swimming team to save them from their mid life crisis. Renowned British actors, Rob Brydon, Adeel Akhtar, Daniel Mays, Jim Carter, Rupert Graves, Thomas Turgoose and Charlotte Riley took to the pool with Aquabatix to learn the skills and choreography on a two week boot camp before springing into action on set. Director Oliver Parker worked closely every day with the Aquabatix specialists, and synchronised swimmers, Ronan Daly and Chris Jepson were drafted in to make the team up to an eight. Film posters popped up all over the tube network in London, the film went global and was the most watched on British Netflix over that Christmas and New Year period. The actors performed a one off special performance on BBC’s Sport Relief in 2018. Watch the film on Netflix here. Also this decade, in 2019 Aquabatix performers featured in a prominent underwater scene in the Golden Globe nominated film Rocketman. Back in 2014 Aquabatix appeared on screen with Kermit, Miss Piggy, Gonzo and Fozzie Bear in the opening credits for the popular Muppets Most Wanted movie.
Yas Waterworld Underwater Residency Show: Following on from the success of Britain’s Got Talent, entertainment company The Business Creative contacted Aquabatix about a new residency show in Abu Dhabi’s biggest water park, Yas Waterworld. They wanted to bring entertainment into a large tank on site, which was only being used for pearl diving experiences at the time. This would encourage more people into the area to sign up for the experience as well as bring them into the store next to that area. After a trial period in the summer of 2013, that October, four synchronised swimmers, including two 2012 Olympians, a Britain’s got Talent finalist and a Great Britain world finalist, ventured off to the Middle East to set up life performing in the daily show. Four shows were created within three weeks, based around the tradition of pearl diving. For two years the space was full of guests mesmerised by the beauty of the underwater performances.
Puma x Ader Error: Synchronised swimming in trainers? No problem. Originally brought in as background for the Puma x Ader Error SS19 advertising campaign, Aquabatix ended up taking over. Featuring as the main models, spinning upside down in water whilst wearing trainers, as well as posing in swimsuits and footwear on billboards, in store windows across Asia and for all their global online content. Watch the online campaign here. Synchronised swimming always makes for captivating images and content, with Aquabatix also appearing in campaigns for Ted Baker, Dollar Shave Club and United. Catch Aquabatix model Clara in Nike’s upcoming Victory Swim campaign in 2020.
The Chelsea Flower Show M&G Garden PR: Kallway, a London based PR company, reached out to Aquabatix in 2015 to create small pieces of choreography and poses in a garden pond, to attract the world’s media attention for their client’s M&G garden at the prestigious Chelsea Flower Show. They had their work cut out with Prince Harry’s garden only next door, who was there and captured taking a sneaky peak at the synchronised swimmers. With 1950’s swimming caps made out of real flowers, the three Aquabatix synchronised swimmers took to the pond on a typical British Summer’s day of rain, and elegantly performed and posed for the press. The BBC lunchtime news went live from the garden with the synchronised swimmers performing in the background. The next day, the cover of The Times featured a large photo of the girls, whilst images of the swimmers in the pond also featured in press as far away as the US and Australia, as well as Vogue. The PR campaign generated 395 stories with a potential reach of 2.23 billion. They broke new digital ground with shareable content contributing to a 20% increase of web traffic and gained 120% increase in social media followers, which helped their M&G client bloom.
A League Of Their Own: Who can forget funnyman and now globally successful tv show present James Cordon being lifted out the water in a pink swimsuit to One Direction’s ‘That What Makes You Beautiful’ for Sky One’s ALOTO. The challenge was for James Corden, footballer Jamie Redknapp and comedian Jack Whitehall to compete against each other by performing with a different group of synchronised swimmers in front of a panel of judges. Aquabatix was drafted in for the choreography of each routine, providing five professional synchronised swimmers per team, and to teach the celebrities the routine as well. The competition went down to the wire. Find out who won here. Aquabatix has featured in several TV shows this decade, Both in 2014 and 2016, they appeared alongside Radio 1 DJ Greg James, comedians Patrick Kielty and Russel Kane and pop star Will Young for BBC 1’s Sport Relief Clash of the Titans synchronised swimming challenge. In 2016 they made a splash next to Ant and Dec in ITV’s Saturday Night Takeaway. Look out for Aquabatix featuring in a new BBC drama in 2020.
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