Mermaid school expands as more people demand sea siren experience

"How about we do some handstands now?"suggests swimming instructorOlivia Ginty to her class at an indoor Toronto pool. Her adult students disappear underwater and brightly coloured mermaid tails emerge, flopping in the air.

Once they catch their breath, there are woopsof joy and applause from the group."Awesome, very good!"exclaims Ginty.

Welcome to mermaid school. Aquamermaid surfaced in Montreal in February, has just floated into Toronto and will make the leap to Ottawa come September.

Sixty dollars covers tail rental plus a one-hour class where students ages seven and up learn how to swim like mermaids.

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"It's really fun to be a mermaid," declares nine-year-old Sarina Heydary. After some instruction, she gleefully glides through the water strapped in a seagreen tail made of stretchy fabric pulled up to her waist and a plastic fin at the bottom.

"Business is great. We actually have a lot of popularity in our adult classes, surprisingly," says Ginty, a certified lifeguard who calls herself a "mermaid instructor."

A recent surge of wearable tails for sale online has spawned new opportunities for anyone with mermaid inclinations. Don't be surprised if you sight them them at your next public swim at the local rec centreunless you happen to live in Edmonton or Surrey, B.C. where mermaid tails are banned from city-owned pools.

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That's because binding swimmers' legs together has raised safety concerns.

But Aquamermaid says it provides a supervised environment where people can safely get a workout and realize their mermaid fantasiesat any age.

'The Little Mermaid' effect

"We all watched TheLittle Mermaid when we were kids, right, so it's kind of cool to experience that," says 23-year-old participant, Emily Dawe.

Mermaidsmythical aquatic creatures that are half human, half fish, have been part of folklore for centuries. They got an extra boost in modern times thanks to the wildlypopular 1989Disney movie version of The Little Mermaida story about a sea nymph who traded her tail for legs to be with a prince.

Dawe is here celebrating her friend, Pawel Pietruszczak's 32nd birthday.

Pietruszczak, who dyed his hair sea foamgreen for the occasion admitshe was inspired by the Disney movie.

"You know how she wanted legs? I definitely wanted fins. So here I am," says the health-care worker who revealshe will change his hair to a more subdued colour before returning to his jobon dry land.

But, for now, he can escape into the mythological mermaidor mermanworld. "It transports you,"he says after charting the waters in his aquamarine tail. "You get to be in a totally different body and it's quite a liberating experience."

Nancy Mactavish learned how to swim the butterfly stroke while wearing her dark green tail. The 57-year-old came to class for the fantasy aspect and because she heard it was a good workout.

"It's harder than you think it's going to be. You can feel it in your stomach and hips the whole time," says a spent Mactavish after her session.

West coast mermaids

For those dreaming of becoming a mermaid on the West Coast, Mermaids International hosts parties plus individual coaching for children in the Vancouver area.

"It's just really taken off, it's amazing," says owner Lori Pappajohn who calls herself a "professional mermaid."

Pappajohn, a singer and harpist by profession, says the mermaid business is so good that "last year I did more mermaid gigs than music gigs."

She says she recently hosted a 40th birthday party where the women were "big burly hockey players. And it was a surprise, they didn't know. And I thought, 'This is not going to go well.'"

But, she says, by the end of the session, "I could not get them out of their tails. They just swam and swam and swam. It just brings joy to everybody."

Mermaid struggles in Edmonton

It also brings joy to Krista Visinski in Edmonton.

"When I get in the water, go under water, I feel so peaceful, so relaxed," says the 24-year-old who would eventually like to host children's parties and do underwater performances.

But she has hit a snag with her training. The City of Edmonton has sounded the siren, banning mermaid tails from its publicpools. Visinksi discovered this recently when approached by a city pool lifeguard while practising her mermaid moves.

She said, 'Hey, you can't swim with your ankles bound.' She said there's a ban happening in the city. I was very upset," says Visinski.

"The City of Edmonton has determined that mermaid tails pose a serious safety risk to younger swimmers," said spokesmanChristopher Websterin an email.

Visinski has started a petition, asking the city to lift the ban and instead implement rulessuch as a swim test"to ensure the safety of people who choose to train and dream of life as a mermaid."

In Toronto, a swim test is required before people can sport mermaid tails during public swims.

Visinski says she's met with city officials and feels encouraged that Edmonton will eventually embrace mermaid tails. "It is something that the city is interested in. I think they just banned it more because people are afraid of what they don't understand, because mermaiding is a bit newer to Canada."

New it may be, but it's definitely making a splash.

Birthday boy, Pietruszczak, says he will return for another class so he can once again give up his legs for a taileven if it's just for an hour. "It's really joyful and it's something I need in my life," he says.