Friends Pool Themselves Together : These Leisure World swimmers have to work together to make ‘Aquadette Follies’ a success. But they can also count on each other when they’re on dry land. ‘We say it’s a club, but it’s really more like a sorority,’ says their coach.

It had been a scorcher of a day, but now beneath a three-quarter moon, a breeze was making it downright chilly at poolside, even for those who weren’t dripping water and tired from exertion.

Since last year, some official had decided that the lights previously strung over Leisure World Pool No. 1 were illegal, and this night there were glitches with the new lighting setup, leaving the swimmers in darkness some of the time. The underwater speaker similarly was cutting in and out.

So the Aquadettes seemed to be enacting a mysterious nocturnal water rite rather than a glitzy synchronized swimming performance. Yet it is this latter prospect they will be presenting in public with “Aquadette Follies 1994” this Thursday through Sunday night, as they have done for the past 29 years, drawing audiences of up to 1,300 over the four days.

Folks who have seen the old Esther Williams movies or watched the synchronized swimming events in the Olympics have an idea of what the Aquadettes are up to. It’s like ballet, except you get water up your nose. The swimmers form shapes and curls of motion in the water; they invert themselves, with glistening gams kicking up above the surface in unison; they, with any luck at all, perform in precise yet fluid motion, as each member becomes part of a bigger picture framed by time and grid location, all set to music such as “The Third Man” theme and a Jimmy Durante rendition of “As Time Goes By.”

The 23 Aquadettes are aged 60 to 82. Some are what Aquadettes president Bev Margolis refers to as “bionic women,” explaining, “There’s this one girl with artificial knees, artificial hips and an artificial arm, and she’s out there swimming. There are people who have had heart surgeries, cancer surgeries, mastectomies, back operations, shoulder operations, arms that don’t work. The average age is about 74.”

And according to fellow Aquadette Bette Ring, “Their attitudes are all tremendous. There’s not one of the 23 you could spend an afternoon with one-to-one where they would give you anything to be depressed over. They’re all up .”

Professional synchronized swimmers half-a-century younger might rehearse one routine six hours a day for a year. The Aquadettes learned 10 routines this year, rehearsing for a couple of hours two or three times a week. And Margolis noted, “When you get older you don’t process things as fast.”

On this night a week before their debut, it wasn’t all serendipity. Swimmers would sometimes surface yards from the mark, or once seemed to approximate a human log jam. But most of the time it worked, and there was a true, and touching, grace to their water dance.

More than in their sodden ballet, that grace was apparent in their faces, in the looks of pleasure and pride that appeared when the swimmers played off one another, helping each other.

“We say it’s a club, but it’s really more like a sorority,” said Aquadettes coach Eileen Allen. “It’s a wonderful camaraderie. I’ve belonged to other clubs and it has left me cold, because there is this clique here and that there. We’re kind of cliquey, but it’s a big clique.”

Said Ring: “They are a very caring, close group. They are the first ones to your side if you’re in trouble or your husband is ill. If anything happens, one of the Aquadettes will be right there.”

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Ring, Allen and Margolis agree that the members’ bond runs deeper because they have to depend on each other in a challenging situation.

The three are among the seven choreographers of this year’s show. It’s a job they describe as both the most difficult and the most fun, seeing their visions brought to life.

“We did have to make a rule, though,” Allen said. “We’ve stopped having it where you can choreograph a number and then swim in it. It just didn’t work because you’d be busy looking around at everybody and making sure they were doing the right thing and as a result you’d do the wrong thing. One year my son-in-law and daughter were in the audience and he looked at my daughter and said, ‘Well, either those seven ladies are wrong or mom is.’ ”

Allen, who turns 80 in November, has coached the Aquadettes for 15 years. Prospective members have to be juried in and meet a set of qualifications, including being able to do a length of the pool each in the breast stroke, crawl, backstroke and sidestroke on both sides. Allen says she’s a tough coach.

“You have to be. Nobody’s meant to love the coach. When I was in college, the coach had a bamboo pole to hit you with. I don’t go that far,” she said. Allen choreographed the the biggest number, the show-closing medley from “Camelot,” which, with 22 swimmers involved, is a true exercise in traffic control.

Each swimmer has to know where she is in a routine by keeping track of the musical beats and measures.

Margolis joked: “One of the qualifications of being an Aquadette is you have to be able to count from one to eight. If you can do that, you’re in.”

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Most of the music comes from movies or show tunes. This year’s show includes “Music of the Night” from “Phantom of the Opera” and the theme from “Free Willy.” They’ve used a John Travolta tune in years past and plan on swimming to “My Boyfriend’s Back” next year. Some music just doesn’t work, though, including the shifting rhythms of Glenn Miller.

Added Allen: “Neil Diamond is one of my favorites, yet it’s not steady enough. If he decides to hold a note for a while, what’s a swimmer going to do?”

Those below the surface use the underwater speaker to keep track of the beat.

“The underwater speaker helps,” Allen said. “Of course if we had underwater hearing aids and underwater glasses, we’d be better off.”

The Aquadettes may approach their work with a sense of humor, but there is no denying it is work. It is a long process to learn the vocabulary of synchronized dancing, all the moves and interactions. A great many of those were learned from Marilyn Thorpe, an “honorary Aquadette” who is swimming a solo number in this year’s show. Thorpe, 55, has been teaching swimming to Leisure World residents since 1978 and has a background in synchronized swimming, along with having played a part in its history.

It didn’t become an Olympic event until 1984, and that resulted from a lobbying effort begun by the United States in 1960. Thorpe was part of that effort, one of a 100-member Aquacade that toured Europe that year to promote the sport.

“We gave clinics and exhibitions in various European cities. That was my real immersion in synchronized swimming. We swam in heated pools, but we also swam in cold, dark lakes and wore heavy, useless costumes. I had one that was made of corduroy,” she recalled.

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The Aquadettes practice in matching floral print swimsuits and perform in costumes and hats made by a costume committee. If, with aging, an Aquadette finds she’s unable to keep up with her responsibilities, she “bows out gracefully” Allen said, and instead helps out as an auxiliary member.

The tickets to their performances go for a $4 donation (for tickets, call Shirley McElyea at (714) 830-2321). Some of that goes for costumes, props and other expenses, but most is distributed to a number of charitable causes. Most of those causes are ones of concern to senior citizens, including cancer, heart and Alzheimer’s disease groups, but they also have donated to Laguna Hills High School to help offset budget cuts there.

For all the good they do, Allen, Margolis and Ring agree that they and the other Aquadettes get more good out of it themselves.

Margolis said, “I have a love of music and love of swimming, so it’s a wonderful combination for me.”

“The best thing about it for me is health, because I had a bad back 10 years ago and it feels so much better now,” Ring said.

“I have arthritis and if I don’t swim at least three times a week I’m in trouble. I get stiff,” said Allen, who was recovering from a back operation when she moved to Leisure World in the mid-’70s. “For a time I had to use the other pool with a wheelchair ramp here, and for a time I could only swim on my back. I think doing this keeps you going, and interested. Now, I don’t think I’m as good as I once was--I’m going to be 80 in November--but I manage to stay above water.”

They say they always have appreciative audiences.

Margolis said: “It’s always a successful show. People here seem to like it.”

“Because they’re amazed we can do it,” Allen said.