Synchro clubs inspire Brighton Fringe Festival

Brighton Dolphin Synchro Masters and Brighton Swimming Club synchro swimmers hosted two sell-out performances at the Brighton Fringe Festival last month.

The synchro sections at the two clubs have collaborated for the past eight years to create an annual synchro show at the Festival.

The show is an integral part of each club’s annual training programme. New swimmers start in September and learn the basics, then in January, training starts ready for the show in May.

Brighton Fringe Festival 2016 performances

Each year the swimmers pick a theme. This year’s show, Aqua TV, touched on the growing social issue of inactivity.

Swimmers of all ages, from seven to 72, performed in the two sell-out shows.

To close the show everyone was urged to “get off the sofa and do some exercise” and to the delight of the audience, more than 60 swimmers joined in a SynchroFitness routine to the hit Uptown Funk by Mark Ronson and Bruno Mars.

SynchroFitness creates super-simple synchro routines for fitness and fun. SynchroFitness was set up by two Brighton competitors who were inspired by new masters swimmer members who were very enthusiastic about learning synchro as an adult, how much they enjoyed it and what good exercise it was.

Both clubs use the show to promote the sport and to dovetail into their recruitment programmes. Since starting the shows eight years ago, both synchro sections have increased in size several times over.

The Dolphins took a new team of synchro swimmers to the European Masters for their first international competition this year. The team included one swimmer who started her synchro career in a SynchroFitness class.

The swimmers have already chosen their theme for the 2017 show and are begun working on their ideas.