How To Be A Professional Mermaid Without Swimming
Contrary to popular belief, just because you can’t swim doesn’t mean you can’t be a mermaid. It doesn’t even mean you can’t be a professional mermaid. A professional mermaid might swim around in a pool for a kids’ party, but there are so many more opportunities – plenty that don’t involve water.
This article will guide you through 10 steps involved in becoming a landlocked professional mermaid. This advice comes to you from a professional mermaid of 7 years.
Have a tail that you are comfortable wearing for a long time
You don’t need to be able to swim in it, but you need to be able to wear it for long periods of time. An hour, at least.
This sounds easy enough, but consider the physical constrictions of being in a tail. Someone with claustrophobia may feel too confined. You also have to wear a monofin to keep the structure of the fluke, which may be uncomfortable after a while and can cause blisters. Your legs will probably get sore, cramped, and sweaty from being stuck together in a tail.
Another issue is that you cannot move easily while wearing a tail. You have to do a scooting motion on land, or have a mermaid assistant help you get around.
Create a mersona and look
To be a professional mermaid, you need to create a mersona, AKA a mermaid persona/character. This involves coming up with a backstory, choosing a specific look, and preparing some character traits.
Here are some questions to answer, along with the answers for my own mersona:
What is your mermaid name? (Mermaid Liv)
Where did you come from? (The Caribbean Ocean.)
What is your personality like? (Bubbly, goofy, passionate about the environment, quirky, punny, maybe a little ditsy.)
What is your back story? (I work for the Queen of the merfolk as a traveler who collects knowledge from the human world, and I mingle with humans along the way like a mermaid ambassador.)
What is your aesthetic? (Green and blue are my colors and I have a gender-neutral look that includes a seashell necklace and fishnet top. I also wear blue eyeliner, do mascara and add some shimmer powder to my lips and eyelids.)
Do you have pets? (I have a catfish named Harvey, based on my dog of the same name. He loves napping, eating, and going for adventures.)
What about your family? (I would use my actual family, just as merpeople. Kids might also ask what color their tails are.)
What do you like to do? (Lounge on the beach reading books, play instruments, tell stories to other merfolk, have underwater adventures, and explore the human world in my human form.)
Do you have magic powers? (I can talk to animals and enchant people with music.)
Practice acting/improv skills
Being a professional mermaid is being an improv actor by nature. You have to play a part. It may come easily to some of us who are passionate about mermaiding and have been doing it for a while, but it’s still something that requires practice. It requires acting skills, quick thinking, and loads of confidence.
Practice acting and improv by watching videos, taking a course, reading scripts out loud, or filming yourself while putting on a mermaid act for a pretend audience.
Prepare answers to kids' questions
To be a professional mermaid, you need to be ready for kids’ questions. And lots of them! Kids want to know things like where you live, how you got to that party, what mermaids eat, if mermaids have pets, if you know Ariel, etc. Sometimes you may feel put on the spot, so it’s good to think of some answers and rehearse them out loud.
My Pro Mermaid Workbook features at least 10 kids' questions with multiple example answers. It also includes story and journal prompts, ocean fun facts, training exercises and more. Grab your copy here to master your professional mermaid skills!
Learn poses and mannerisms
When people see a mermaid, you better believe they’re gonna want to prove it to their friends. So be prepared to be modeling for the camera. You’ll want to learn some graceful poses and be able to move like a mermaid.
You always want your arms to be loose, not rigid and robotic, but flowy. Mermaids will usually keep their arms up and moving most of the time. Be expressive with your mannerisms.
Have good posture, a friendly smile and have your head up high.
Have a special skill
If you have a special skill, you should definitely include that in your mermaid act.
Examples:
Juggling
Singing
Playing an instrument
Bubble tricks
Hula hooping
Ribbon wand dancing
Magic tricks
Sign language
Ventriloquism
Face painting
Contact juggling
Contact poi
You can add your special skill to your mermaid resume/portfolio/demo reel.
Come up with games and activities
When doing a gig that isn't in the pool, you have to get creative because you cannot perform tricks or play pool games. There are many games you can play on land and fun activities to do.
Here are some games to play:
20 questions
Charades
Drawing guessing game (Bring a notebook and pencil)
Freeze dance
Alphabet games (where you have to think of words of a certain category starting with each letter of the alphabet)
Songs to sing:
Baby Shark
If You're Happy and You Know It
Itsy Bitsy Spider
Disney songs
I'm a Little Tea Pot
Twinkle Twinkle Little Star
Hokey Pokey
Row Your Boat
Activities:
Play with bubbles
Do temporary tattoos
Mermaid makeovers
Dance party
Singalong
Read children's books
Have a treasure chest
Props are a must when it comes to doing dry gigs (that’s what we call a gig that doesn’t involve swimming).
When talking to kids, posing for photos, and answering questions gets old, it's good to have some props to lean on.
I always attend a gig with my handy dandy pirate's treasure chest full of goodies! Inside it, I keep toys, bubbles, gems and jewelry, pirate coins, balls, and more.
Not only is it perfect for entertaining the kids, but it works as a decoration that adds to the mermaid ambiance.
Get experience with kids:
If you plan on doing mermaid gigs that involve kids, you definitely need some experience working with kids. There are many ways you can get this experience:
Volunteer at a library for kids’ programs, such as story time or craft events
Work or volunteer with a school
Tutor kids
Become a youth mentor
Work at a daycare center
Do some babysitting
Become a swim instructor or lifeguard
Be a camp counselor
Interact with kids in your family (such as nieces and nephews)
Work as a vendor or game leader at family friendly festivals and fairs
Teaching
Know how to find gigs
It's great once you have the skills to be a professional mermaid, but how the shell do you get gigs?
Here are some ways to find mermaid work:
Networking - Have a mermaid pod or community (You can find one online). Go to meet ups and meet other mers. Sometimes they’ll get a gig and the client will ask for another mermaid and they'll invite you to join, or they might be able to refer you to a gig they aren't available for.
Market yourself on social media
Have a website with SEO
Have your mom friends refer you to their mom friends
Reach out to ren faires, festivals, swim schools, community events, and libraries.
Job boards
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Now you know the basics of becoming a professional mermaid who only does dry gigs. For more professional mermaid related content, check out these other articles:
Hope you enjoyed this article! Happy mermaiding!
If you're interested in hearing more about a certain topic, shoot me an email at oliviagilbertmermaid@gmail.com.
About the author
Shello! My name is Mermaid Liv, a professional mermaid and content creator. I share my love of mermaiding through this blog, along with my Youtube channel.
If you've never heard of it before, mermaiding is a hobby, profession, and sport that involves wearing mermaid tails made for swimming.
I began making tails in 2013 and have continued my mermaid journey, starting my Youtube channel, working at a mermaid festival, performing at gigs, and being featured in the Netflix Docu Series MerPeople.
Follow me on Instagram for mermaid photos and videos: @the_real_mermaid_liv and be shore to check out my Youtube channel.
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