Aqualillies was honored to contribute to this groundbreaking synchronized swimming scene for Beyoncé’s new film, Black Is King. We were thrilled to work with JaQuel Knight and a team of synchronized swimmers from throughout California as well as Island Aquatics Synchro Club, a dedicated team of young competitive athletes based in Port Antonio, Jamaica. Thank you to Beyoncé, JaQuel Knight, and everyone involved for celebrating Black performers – we’re excited to be a part of this cultural reset 

STREAMING NOW ON DISNEY+.

Check out some thoughts from our performers below!

“It was such a wonderful experience, the energy on set was an overwhelming feeling of pride. I saw some of the most beautiful people of all shades and sizes; talented and just amazing people. Creative artists that were all on one set. It was amazing. I was very honored to be a part of it and it will definitely be one of the moments that I will cherish for the rest of my life.”

– NICOLE

“My favorite part of the shoot was working with the ladies from the Jamaica team. They were much younger than me, but it reminded me of when I started synchronized swimming so many years ago – they looked and sounded just like me!  Another fun thought that I had during the shoot: This shoot made me admire Beyoncé more than I did before. She knew exactly what she wanted and her business mind was always working. There was a moment where she asked where the drone was because the crane shots weren’t exactly working. As soon as the drone came out, she was able to capture the patterns and routines better. Such a boss and creative inspiration!”

– PHILICIA

“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 and the rest of her amazing team, created for us; a platform where we could shine in our truest form…”

– TORI

“I was truly honored to be a part of this project since Beyoncé is probably one of my favorite artists of all time (the only concerts I go to are hers!). It was so gratifying to see that she was exactly the person I thought she was on stage and on screen to in person… in charge, confident, cutting edge but also gracious, kind and fun to perform with. Not to mention how fearless she is in water! She was so ready to swim through the spinning circle/dolphin chain Philicia, Ymajahi and I created, not once but multiple times! I was beginning to wonder if she is practicing underwaters on her free time.”

– TAMAR

“I’m extremely pleased to be a part of Beyoncé’s project and eager to see the final and beautiful outcome which promotes the climbing movement of the black community. I had a lot of fun working with everyone while a great wave of inspiration washed over me in the atmosphere filled with positivity and I hope to stay in touch.”

– NYOUKA, Island Aquatics Synchro Club

ABOUT ISLAND AQUATICS SYNCHRO CLUB: An Interview with Coach Olga

Tell us about your team:
The Portland branch of Island Aquatics Synchro club was founded in 2007 by me (Russian 2-time Olympic champion Olga Novokshchenova). Since then a great number of kids learned to swim, to synch and many other important life lessons. There is also a Learn To Swim program which has over 50 members, where kids of different ages and adults are learning to swim, improving their swimming skills and competing in local competitions. It is led by a volunteer coaches and older swimmers. These programs are feeding our synchro team with new swimmers and give our older swimmers chance to learn and master coaching skills which will help them in the future life and hopefully provide Jamaica with more qualified aquatic sports specialists.

What are some team highlights?:
A bunch of [our athletes] qualified for the Jamaican National Team and successfully represented Jamaica at multiple international championships. The young girls from a small town that does not even have a public swimming pool had travelled to many countries. Peru, USA, Barbados, Puerto Rico, Canada, Trinidad and Tobago, Aruba, China and Panama. To make this possible our team is working hard trying to combine our competition schedule with fundraising activities. Regular shows and performances are our favorite. They allow our swimmers to practice their performing skills, promote the sport and, most important, providing funds so much needed for all the traveling we do.

What is a specific highlight memory for you?:
Visiting the Disney World in Orlando in 2017. Our amazing team supporters Mr. & Mrs. Merritt, who host our team almost every year in Miami when we are coming for the competitions took the whole team to Disney for the whole day after the competitions.

What are some of your challenges?:
Our physical challenge is endurance in performing routines. Because of very limited practice time, often girls don’t reach the fitness that is needed to complete their routines with the high energy level as they should be. Also building up a confidence is a work in progress. Representing a small team out of a small town form a small island and often being the only representatives of a color in predominantly white sport can be quite stressful. I think often the girls don’t even believe that certain things are possible for them and so they don’t aim to reach as high as they possibly could. So amazing events like participating in Beyonce’s project will show our girls and other children from remote communities that life has good thing to offer for them too. The best synchro skill would be the ability to learn multiple routines in a short time. At least twice a year we are hosting a big show that last about an hour and a half. Young swimmers like Micah (7) participate in minimum 4 different routines. Swimmers like Nyouka and Laila would do 8-9 routines every show. And because our town is small and audience is usually is same, we have to produce new set of routines every show. And even so the coach might get few extra grey heir now and then, generally all the girls are managing very good.

What has changed for you with the COVID-19 pandemic?:
This summer we had lots of plans: Meet in Coral Springs for youngest girls, Hilton World Wide Invitational meet in Canada, Central American & Caribbean Swimming Championships, Possibly UANA meet in Aruba and we were hoping to send a junior duet of Nyouka and Laila to Junior World Championships in Canada. Also the whole Jamaica AS team together with other sport disciplines were scheduled to travel to China for 2 months training camp. All of this got cancelled because of the COVID. On a positive side, we have got time this summer to open a beginners program and bring on a dozen of new members. Right now they are all learning to swim (unfortunately none of the kids here can swim and so we have to teach them) and the older girls are helping to teach them. I am hoping that these new swimmers will be ready to enter their first big competition in November and later, in December participate in our Christmas show together with the advanced swimmers. Right now me and my friend coach from Cayman Islands Alissa Moberg are discussing an idea of having an international meet over the internet since none of us are able to travel we are trying to salvage what left of the season 2020. So many good routines were prepared and because many kids are moving to older age groups next year, they will not get to swim them any more.

What are some of your goals?:
Most of all our little team would love to have a public pool in our little town where all the people – kids and adults could learn how to swim. The pool we are using now is only 3 lanes wide and it is difficult to get to. A swimming pool in Port Antonio would give more children a chance to learn to swim and do synchro.

What is your team proud of? What are their individual goals?:
Generally, I think that the girls are proud of doing something really special that not many people around them can do.

It is not a coincidence that historically there has not been much diversity in the Artistic Swimming community. We have come a long way since the classic Hollywood aqua-musicals of the 1930s–1960s (which featured predominately White performers, which was commonplace for that era) – but we still have a lot of work to do for better representation of BIPOC swimmers, both on-screen and in the sport (formerly known as synchronized swimming). It was amazing to see Beyoncé flip tradition on its head by bringing together so many talented Black synchronized swimmers to create this powerful visual project.

As a company, we are working internally and in our local communities to take a more active role in changing what the future of Artistic Swimming looks like, in hopes of seeing more future projects where BIPOC artistic swimmers take center stage. If you would like to be a part of this change or have any ideas or comments, feel free to contact us at info@aqualillies.com.

ABOUT BLACK IS KING:

““Black Is King” is a labor of love. It is my passion project that I have been filming, researching and editing day and night for the past year. I’ve given it my all and now it’s yours. It was originally filmed as a companion piece to “The Lion King: The Gift” soundtrack and meant to celebrate the breadth and beauty of Black ancestry. I could never have imagined that a year later, all the hard work that went into this production would serve a greater purpose. The events of 2020 have made the film’s vision and message even more relevant, as people across the world embark on a historic journey. We are all in search of safety and light. Many of us want change. I believe that when Black people tell our own stories, we can shift the axis of the world and tell our REAL history of generational wealth and richness of soul that are not told in our history books.With this visual album, I wanted to present elements of Black history and African tradition, with a modern twist and a universal message, and what it truly means to find your self-identity and build a legacy. I spent a lot of time exploring and absorbing the lessons of past generations and the rich history of different African customs. While working on this film, there were moments where I’ve felt overwhelmed, like many others on my creative team, but it was important to create a film that instills pride and knowledge. I only hope that from watching, you leave feeling inspired to continue building a legacy that impacts the world in an immeasurable way. I pray that everyone sees the beauty and resilience of our people. This is a story of how the people left MOST BROKEN have EXTRAORDINARY gifts. Thank you to Blitz, Emmanuel, Ibra, Jenn, Pierre, Dikayl, Kwasi and all the brilliant creatives. Thank you to all at Disney for giving this Black woman the opportunity to tell this story. This experience has been an affirmation of a grander purpose. My only goal is that you watch it with your family and that it gives you pride.” – Beyoncé