The Aquaticats Meow - Professional mermaid performer & fire-eater, MeduSirena

anointing with the natural oils, and dressing in mermaid-feeling, sea-loving garments. All this is not necessary, and being sincere IS. De-clutter your mind of all distractions that include the lower energies of worries, guilt, shame, or fear. Breathe, becoming present to how your body feels. Listen to your heart beat.

Connect: Drink water throughout. Then, open up to allow and accept. Offer your true self. Offer your attention. Offer your gifts in service to the world. All your fierce, inner spiritual “Mermaid in the Moon” and all that she holds.

Protect: Breathe. Drink water. Light your candles. Visualize a ring of fragrant, juicy strawberries or roses surrounding you, protecting you. You can even place the real objects around where you are sitting or standing—or just on your mermaid altar. Breathe. Feel the power of the Moon, Great Seas, Oceans, Rivers and all waters pouring into your protection circle. The energy of this Full Strawberry (Rose) Moon is gathering. It is loving, and beautiful. It is alluring and untamed. It is mysterious and sensual. Continue absorbing this energy as you read and say out loud EACH ONE of the Mermaid Affirmations as you look into your hand held mirror: I AM…Love. Beauty. Mystery. Allure. Untamed. Femininity. Perception.

Celebrate: Breathe. Drink water. Allow yourself to mentally walk through your past month and think of everything you can express gratitude for. Use what I call the “Appreciation Alphabet Mantra.” Starting with the letter “A”, state out loud what you are grateful for i.e. I am grateful for air. Continue through each letter of the alphabet. If inclined, go through the alphabet again. The 26 letters will help you focus.

Close: Breathe. Drink water. Sit in silence. Feel. Allow your mind to wander. Finally, visualize your original circle of protection dissolving, the waves gently carrying the roses and strawberries out to sea…ebbing and flowing. You will intuitively know when you have channeled your inner, spiritual mermaid. Extinguish your candles in gratitude. Eat your strawberries. Toss the rose petals into the water or on the ground.

You are now complete. You have celebrated your inner, spiritual mermaid~

Connect with Lore and share your experience via her Facebook magazine page at Women as Visionaries with Lore Raymond

or her vibrant open Facebook group of the same name

MeduSirena

the Aquaticat’s Meow

Looking at her will not turn you to stone, but it just may make you weak in the knees.

MeduSirena Marina is a bodacious, swimming, fire-eating contradiction. She is at once a down-to-earth business woman who doesn't take herself or her mermaidliness too seriously and an aquatic performing vixen to rival Venus. She has a background in marine biology and an interest in retro-aquatic spectacles and stunt dance, with a nod to the Vaudeville shows of old. Not only can she pose on a rock with the best of them, but she manages to weave Polynesian Pop, Middle Eastern and Asian dance styles into her acts. She is athletic yet exotic, and though she floats in a fin for a living, her feet are firmly planted on the ground.

Born and raised in the islands of the Caribbean, Marina Duran-Anderson learned free diving at the tender age of three from her father, an avid dive enthusiast, aquarist, and boater. Her marine interests made her an enthusiastic student of marine biology & physiology. She began working at sea aquariums and science museums from age 13, becoming an honors marine biology student throughout her scholastic years. Her mother’s influential interest in vintage Hollywood films, stage performance & dance

-84-

also led Marina to explore & study a variety of diverse dance styles. Her studies and skills led to accomplished international performances in both Polynesian & Middle Eastern dance as well as in Japanese dance and percussion.

As Marina’s diving and dance style began to further progress, she became quite interested in aquatic spectacles – dive shows and water ballets combining the graceful movements of dance with her familiar underwater environment- most popular during the Golden Age of Tourism. Pool and tank shows featuring aquatic theatre, dance & spectacles, once seemingly plentiful in years past, unfortunately began to quickly loose their luster with general audiences, almost entirely disappearing.

[source: MeduSirena.com]

I managed to catch her in between performing the many Herculean feats that make up her life, just long enough to ask some gushing fan questions. Here's what she had so say:

You dance underwater and eat fire for a living. What's a day in the life of MeduSirena like?

Gosh... I guess I can describe it as a training day. Yup, every day is a training day. Run, swim, train self, train students, apprentices, performers, practice, costuming, repairs, prepare for shows... editing photos and videos, interviews, travel... its all pretty involved.

How does your dance background in such varied styles as Polynesian, Japanese and Middle Eastern shape your underwater style?

Polynesian Dance and Middle Eastern dance introduced the movement, spirit, and set the theme. Japanese dance and wadaiko (drumming) gave me discipline. Together with my underwater background, it seemed rather organic in its evolution. I wanted to convey a sense of fluidity in underwater movement and dance — to move with the water instead of resisting it, fusing movement art forms together. The effect desired became a goal to continuously attain to... The road is endless!

How did you initially get into professional performance? Was it tough to sell your unique act? Or did you find audiences were craving the sort of entertainment you were bringing back?

I began performing in this style 25 years ago, with the desire to provide audiences with something they might have seen sometime, but not for a long time.

At that time, only Weeki Wachee was recognized for having underwater ballet performances, and monofins were practically unheard of. As a result, I mostly did photography work, as a model primarily- also for film projects. My swim style became more refined as I continued my work as a Polynesian dancer.

To sell this type of performance was very tricky back at one time, and sometimes it still is. Alas, when offered it is usually lumped together with the sport of synchronized swimming, which as fantastic as it is, looks quite different.

The later sudden pop-culture popularity of mermaids allowed the opportunity to use fishtails as a gimmick to sell the swimshow. I often have to tell people that I actually swim; but without a demonstration it still is difficult for many event planners to picture. Even the Wreck Bar turned me down when I first offered to perform there! Thankfully, via videos and word of mouth, I got over most of the barricade, but once in a while still am challenged by a person who really doesn't understand it and shows little desire to. It's sometimes too abstract a concept to those who really don't understand swimming.

Due to my background in and love for retroPolynesian spectacles, I've always had strong ties to the Tiki community. Those were the first fans, as they understood my passion for the preservation of as unique an art form and rare a venue as The Wreck Bar. They supported me ten-fold from the very start.

To sell it to the rest, fortunately, once they saw it, they got it. The crowd response has been overwhelming sometimes. One has to be tenacious if its something you truly believe will work. My current fan base is crazy wonderful, inspiring me to work even harder to continue my work and raise the performance bar with each kind word and email.

What you do is so unusual and you are so uniquely qualified... Is it difficult to train others to perform at your level?

Thank you ~ that"s mighty kind of you to notice! In training others, some people seem to have a natural predisposition toward aquatic spectacles & performance. It certainly is easier to train them, but it still poses a challenge if, for instance, they have little dance experience, or are anxious or not familiar with acting. Everyone has their own strength, and I try to work with that initially to assign them their own unique style which they can hone.

Will you ever take your show on the road, so to speak? I imagine you could be booked solid if you did any sort of tour.

Oh yeah, have already! High time is Spring and Summer of course. I travel wherever I'm called, provided the water is heated! I often perform in California, especially in August, with most of the Tiki events occurring thenabouts. Hawai'i, The Caribbean, Asia... yadda yadda...