[Jocelyn Choi/Mermaid Performer]

Jocelyn: I dreamed of being a mermaid since I was a child. I adored the mermaids in fairy tales because I was always curious about the underwater world. Hello, I am Jocelyn.

 “Mr. Choi, come for a home-cooked meal.”

Jocelyn: I am a performer. I used to do acting in dramas for films, television programs and on stage. Recently I started developing, a new aspect of my career to become a professional mermaid performer. Mermaiding is now a combination of free diving synchronized swimming dance, yoga, etc. All coming together to form an artistic sport. A performer needs to behave like a real mermaid underwater swimming and living freely, really thinking of themselves as a fish. I would be lying if I said it was easy. It’s actually very hard. The first impression you get would be ‘it’s so pretty, inside an aquarium with the mermaid greeting the visitors.’ But in fact, the performer cannot see you. It’s like having extreme short-sightedness. The second thing is that water keeps going into your nose. So how do you stop that from happening?You can’t, you can only push through.

[Alan/MFI Founding Director and Instructor)]

Alan: Jocelyn is perseverant person. Even though she keeps saying it’s difficult, she still perseveres through it.

Jocelyn: Wow, so difficult! It was an issue with floating. I couldn’t dive down, it was so difficult. Then I still had to retrieve the props and they were so far away. And after I got the props, I was already exhausted.

Alan: Throughout this process, she really wanted to show others her passion and discovered that many others in the world are on the same path.

Jocelyn: I think every mermaid athlete is amazing, especially those who have come to this competition. They are the best of the best. Everyone here have persisted for so long and gone through training for so long. So that they could be with us here today performing in front of us under the immense pressure of a competition. They must be excellent. It makes me reflect on how much more I still need to learn. I haven’t reached that international level yet, but I am so happy to be able to represent Hong Kong for this contestant. This is a formalised competition with specific routines and compulsories. This is the first time I have to perform within a set of strict rules and requirements. I find it rather restrictive. But just like the society, there are many boundaries and restrictions and we all feel stuck at certain points. But if we overcome it creatively, we can jump from a red ocean into a blue ocean. A lot of mermaid performers used to be dancers. They have been changed from dancers to underwater performers.

[Sera/Contestant from Korea]

Sera: Before I was a dancer and also preparing singing as an entertainment. (Due to) some accident, I broke my leg. So I couldn’t dance again.

Jocelyn: They even tell me that it’s a kind of rebirth for them. They have instantly found new meaning, and new value for themselves.

[Jay/Contestant from Indonesia]

Jay: In the past, I’m doing pole dancing professionally. At that time, I’m just trying to do something new. When I heard Mermaiding at the beginning, I just like…It’s a kind of challenge for me. I can’t swim but after I tried mermaiding. I took a like to the water life.

Jocelyn: Every dream, or everything that exists in reality right now, when you think back, was once something in your imagination. A lot of the times, some people may tell you to be pragmatic. ‘Stop daydreaming.’ But who could have imagined that something that once was in the fairy tales has now become a nationally recognized sport.