The New York Times
THE AQUALILLIES: IN THE POOL, POETRY IN MOTION
BEVERLY HILLS, Calif. — On a breezy summer night on the rooftop of the Thompson hotel here, four members of the Aqualillies, a synchronized swimming troupe, were rehearsing for a performance.
The underwater speaker wasn’t yet working, so the performers instead hummed their beats underwater to the song “Anything Could Happen,”by Ellie Goulding. A camera, also underwater, projected their lithe limbs, yellow bikinis and pink swim caps on a large screen hanging over the city.
“They’re a can’t-miss party trick, a game changer,” said Lance Broumand, the C.E.O. of the e-mail magazine UrbanDaddy, who had hired the Aqualillies for that evening’s event, a party celebrating a new waterproof phone and tablet by Sony. “It’s branded engagement to the next level. You’re interacting with the brand inside the water with a synchronized swim team.”
The object, eventually, was to get all the party guests into the pool, too.
The Aqualillies, who started in Los Angeles but now have troupes in seven other cities, have performed for a roster of celebrities including Leonardo DiCaprio, Natalie Portman, Justin Timberlake and the Kardashians. They’ve appeared on “Glee” on Fox and on ABC’s “Splash,” and in the music video for the Nicki Minaj and Justin Bieber song “Beauty and a Beat.”
Among their fans are the burlesque star Dita Von Teese, for whom they were an opening act last summer to introduce a series of Friday night pool parties hosted by Cointreau at the Beverly Hills Hotel, where Esther Williams (a heroine of the Aqualillies, of course) once trained. “They’re a delight to watch,” Ms. Von Teese wrote in an e-mail.
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