In A Clam Shell
I am a mermaid. I always have been a mermaid. Ever since I was a child and found the Pacific Ocean off the Mexican and Hawaiian shores. My first tattoo was a mermaid. My first certification was SCUBA. My first (and only) Hollywood movie that I starred in was a movie about a mermaid who lost her child.
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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cb74tVTW_2I It's a Disney movie called the Thirteenth Year. But more than that, I feel it! When I can put my head underwater, the whole world and all her dilemmas drown away in my mind.
I am Stephanie Chantel Durelli. I have been an actress, stunt girl, Hawaiian cruise ship worker, fitness model, circus performer, fire-dancer, aerialist, circus talent manager, show producer, theatre director, and yes, you guessed it, a mermaid. In June of 2013 started my own performance troupe called IRIDESCENCE: A Mermaid Tribe where I alchemized my skills into one. This troupe of over 20 performers is made up of athletes, models, dancers, circus performers, and most importantly, OCEAN LOVERS. They all have backgrounds in swim team, water polo, surfing, free-diving, ocean conservation, lifeguarding, springboard diving, and scuba diving. To round it all out, I have created seacreatre characters too! These include the fire-trident-spinning Neptune, the contortionist/aerialist hermit crab, the dancing seadragons, the little person octopus queen, the opera singing siren serpent queen, the stilting jellyfish and the trick-lining electric eel!
In creating Mermaid Theatre, it has become immanently clear that the only way to bring our messages about ocean conservation via Mermaid and Seacreature shows is within our own stage... which of course, needs to be a stage of water. Not every venue has a pool, a lake, a river or certainly not an ocean. Hummm. What can we do? Ta da! THE PORTABLE MERQUARIUM!
Please help us spread the messages that help us play our part in saving our Mother Earth and her Daughter Ocean.
From Fluke to Fin
In order to build a MerQuarium we needed to hire a private engineer (as these aren't readily available on Amazon.. ha ha). We hired James Oliver,
www.linkedin.com/pub/oliver-jim/1a/102/38b, who is a mechanical engineer currently working for a spa company building spas. So, someone who is part of our team who currently engineers the creation of water containers for people. Couldn't be more perfect than that, right? We are seeking $22,000. The breakdown goes like this:
~Engineering (hiring James to create the design): $3,000
~Fabrication (creating the MerQuarium & all the supplies needed to do it with): $12,000
~Trailer to Haul the MerQuarium: $5,000
~Fundraising Costs: $2,000
Grand total= $22,000
The Treasures
If you help us, we would like to gift you! Indiegogo calls these "PERKS". So, perk up people, we have some great swag for you starting with the $5 donors for an original Iridescence mermaid sticker. Or the $40 donor tier for an awesome seashell bra hand-crafted by our Iridescence team. Last and certainly not least, the top notch $2500 donor perk for a day-trip boat adventure, captained by one of our Merfriends to Catalina Island, to swim and be filmed with our magical Mermaids.
The Big Blue
In true essence of a symbiotic relationship with our planet and the people we share it with, you too, gain much out of this campaign besides "PERKS". What you gain from this is witnessing beautiful, athletic mermaids, mermen and seacreatures perform in your school parking lot, at your favorite convention or festival near you. But better than this is feeling like you are a part of the solution to the ocean problems like seismic testing that is leaving thousands of marine animals stranded on beaches with their ear drums blown, turtles wrapped in the thousands of miles of drift nets, or pounds of plastic being eaten by whales and getting lodged in their intestines. You are now supporting an altruistic cause and not just another gimmick or video game developer.
I understand that every corner we turn, there is another friend, environmental group or wildlife cause that we can all donate too. Sometimes we are just tapped out at the moment of asking. But your donation power doesn't have to end there. Share and post our project and better yet, talk about it! Word of mouth is the most powerful promotion tool that any business can have.
Stormy Waters
If we don't make our $22,000 goal, there are many other things that our troupe can benefit greatly from. The tails that we use are made of 100% silicone and usually cost $3000 and upwards. We currently have a EFX guy that we use for our tail repairs but he has offered to make us a mold and begin to create new tails for less than the usual fee that most other tail makers request. We will be commissioning him for our next tails so we will keep the business local. Also, transportation to and from gigs and festivals has been quite a challenge with all of our huge props and tails. Therefore, I have a used mini motor home (like a Dolphin or Winnebago) in mind as our MerMobile that will cost around $5000-8000. Or better yet, we will hold onto what we raised, try again and bring in new demographics of people to appeal to.
The only perceived challenge that I anticipate having to hurdle is where to store the MerQuarium. But the good news is that I've already spoken with circus producer friends who own warehouses and they are game for us to store the tank in their facility or parking lots... some for barter of use for their other watery productions and photo shoots. So there will be other performance uses by our circus community for this beauty. As far as risks, life is a risk and anything worth having is risky! I am a mermaid who has already taken many in my lifetime and I intend on taking many more.
With that we bid you best fishes to you and your family!Love, Namaste, Aloha,
Chantel Durelli