Success story: how did the Belarusian champion become a mermaid in a Las Vegas show

Ilona Kotlyarenko, a multiple champion of Belarus in synchronized swimming, a participant in the European and World Championships, said Air force about how she managed to become part of the water show Le Reve in Las Vegas, get a visa for unique abilities and what she had to sacrifice for the work of her dreams.

Le Reve is a water show in Las Vegas that is now in its seventh year as the city's top stage show.

I know that I want to work in a show in Las Vegas since childhood. It took me almost 15 years to reach my goal. I came to Las Vegas more than half a year ago. But not for work, but for casting. I remember that day.

It was necessary to pass a huge number of tests for physical strength, choreography, make improvisation in the water, and even learn a small excerpt from the show. It lasted about six hours.

“Surprise us,” says the casting director and invites me onto the stage. I do not know what to do. There is no time to think. I decided to do a somersault into the water.

Along the way, she purposely dropped her swimming cap, so she looked like a mermaid. I think they liked it. A second later the music subsided. They promised to call me.

After casting, I collapsed onto the bed. An hour later, she called my mother and said that they would not choose me. I didn't know if they liked me or not. It was hard to believe that a girl from Belarus could take on a show of this level.

The day before, the casting directors went to the European Aquatics Championships in London. There were about 200 synchronized swimming athletes there, and each of them was my potential competitor.

The call had to wait more than two months. I was very surprised when I received an invitation to work. I was still riding a bike and, having learned the news, stopped in the middle of the road and cried from happiness.

Back in Las Vegas, I act as a show artist. I was lodged in a hotel in the center of the city and attached a personal assistant. He was at my service 24 hours a day, helped to find an apartment, open a bank account: in a word, join American life.

I thought the adaptation was over, and working on the show was pure pleasure. And what could be more difficult than professional sports?

The first training was very hard. I came home, went to the bath with ice and realized that everything hurts me.

My body was simply not accustomed to such loads, because in a sports career it took up to six months to learn one program for a competition. And here it was necessary to learn ten numbers from the show for a month and a half.

I was at rehearsals from eight in the morning until midnight. It was one of the most difficult periods in my life.

The first three months constantly feel under supervision. Coaches monitor not only physical skills, but also how much a person joins the team.

At the end of the probationary period, a board meets and decides whether to leave you or not. Everyone is treated like a new member of the family - after all, they will have to work with him for many years.

"You need to be unique"

People often ask me who you need to be to get a job at Le Rêve. I think you need to be unique. Even on my visa I - an extraordinary ability (a foreigner with unique abilities - BBC note).

In general, you need to secure a long track record of sporting achievements. Among us there are many titled artists: European and world champions and Olympic medalists.

The show has a slight concession - there are no age restrictions, as is usually the case in sports. If an artist is in good physical shape, he can work until he is 45 years old. We do not have any special diets; everyone must monitor their own weight.

The main thing is to be in the physical shape that will allow you to easily perform the most difficult tricks. Or climb a rope, even if they wake you up in the middle of the night.

A show of this level is the only chance to use professional skills outside of sports, at least for me.

Many of my former colleagues synchronized immediately after the career brought the family. In order to work here, I had to sacrifice not only my personal life, but also communication with family and friends.

I think that my success is connected with our Russian willpower, the strength of spirit that we have cultivated over the centuries. We never give up, even if it is very difficult. It is no coincidence that the Russian national synchronized swimming team has been the best in the world for many years.

I grew up with my grandmother’s tales of difficult wartime, when there was nothing to eat, but I had to endure and work. Every time when it is hard for me, I remember its history and go forward.

From time to time I receive messages on my Facebook from visitors to the show. They express to me words of admiration and gratitude, for the sake of which you can go to many things.

“They teach me according to Stanislavsky”

In professional sports, my task was to synchronously complete a number of elements. And here you need to play, to be an actress, which is not always the case.

My coach teaches me acting. She often gives me tasks to portray some emotion, for example, suffering. I start playing, writhing around the stage, and she abruptly turns off the music and says: “I don’t believe you.” Stanislavsky once said exactly the same thing at rehearsals of performances.

Now I myself can easily distinguish the professional game of an actor from an empty parody.

We have monthly acting classes. We study as a group, breaking into pairs. The tasks are different. For example, you need to look into each other's eyes and laugh on a scale from one to 10. Our acting teacher Didier Antoine counts: “One, two, three, four...” You need to laugh until he believes that you are really having fun.

90% of the time I give to the show. This is not just a job - this is my life. My free time is mediocre and boring compared to what I do here.

Every performance is like a drug. And it is addictive. I think I just can't live without it. It starts to break me if I sit without work for more than a day.

I can’t imagine myself in a “sedentary” job somewhere in an office. Maybe that's why artists leaving the show are constantly looking for adrenaline - skydiving or choosing extreme sports.

The personal life of the artists takes place within the walls of the show, where most of them create families with each other. We have our own interests, jokes, habits - we simply cannot understand people from the outside.

“I’m very afraid of doing something wrong”

More than half a year has passed since I work in the show, though not only as a synchronized sweater, but also a dancer, an acrobat and an actress.

I work as if I prepare for the Olympics every day. In total, we have two shows a day, both in the evening, but preparations for them begin in the morning.

I get up around nine, go to the gym, where I spend more than three hours - warming up, doing cardio exercises, swimming. Then have a quick lunch and run to rehearsal.

Our coach Dasha Nedorezova says: “You come to rehearsals without warming up or staggering from corner to corner - you must be one hundred percent ready to perform right now. And do it better than anyone else."

We draw stage make-up in the presence of a makeup artist, following step-by-step instructions.

Total 15 minutes are allocated to hang costumes around the scene. Our scene consists of several platforms that are periodically disconnected and moving, so you need to be very careful to hang out the costumes, otherwise you just don’t have time to change clothes, or don’t wear your own costume, which is even worse.

After the first presentation, work on mistakes takes place. On a huge board on the way to the locker room, a list of names of “guilty” artists who performed one or another element incorrectly appears as if out of nowhere.

They must immediately proceed to the office of the coach, taking with them a notebook and a pen. Each time, with a sinking heart, I look at the board: what if I did something wrong?

Every day I have a new role in the show, which I will find out just an hour before the show begins. It is like a game of Russian roulette. I do not have one script in my head, like a regular actor, but as many as ten.

It is necessary to remember not only the roles, but also the participants of the show, whom we have 90 people. Behind the scenes hang photos and the names of artists, so that it would be easier for us to get to know each other.

“The audience doesn’t know where we’re disappearing to.”

The plot of our performance is about love. The main character is trying to choose between true love and the dark side of her soul: a handsome prince or a bad guy.

My goal is to convey the emotions of the heroine, who is tossing around when choosing a life partner. It seems to me that this show perfectly suits the Russian nature. We constantly stand on the threshold of choice, trying to distinguish good from evil, which, alas, is not always possible.

I perform one of the most difficult and exciting elements of the show - the red shoe tie. Its complexity is that we make synchronized movements with our legs for four minutes, and we ourselves are under water all this time. People wonder how you can survive without air for so long.

In fact, we breathe through underwater pipes, several meters long. True, they are sometimes confused. But this viewers are not visible. While we stand, divers unravel knots.

When the performance ends, we do not leave the stage - we float away. There are several 10-meter-long tunnels underwater that you need to swim through to get behind the scenes. And this is very difficult, because after the performance you are very tired, there is no air left.

As a result, the audience does not know where we are coming from or where we are disappearing - this is the intrigue of the show.

Our task is to evoke emotions in people. After all, each of them came for new impressions. The final success of the performance is determined by the number of spectators giving a standing ovation. Most often it’s a whole hall, but sometimes only a couple of people get up. We do every show the same way, but it's impossible to predict the audience's reaction.

"City for the fulfillment of desires"

For most people, Las Vegas is associated with casinos, shows and bachelor parties. They are very surprised when I say that I live here. To be honest, I myself sometimes wonder.

Vegas is very hot. Everyone moves in cars. The streets go either homeless or schoolchildren. Tourists run from one place to another. I myself get out of the car only when needed: home or to work.

I wouldn't want to raise my children here. This is a city not for living, but for fulfilling any desires. Mine has now come true. The main thing is not to get bored. But in this city they simply won’t let you do it. At least not on my show, that's for sure.

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