I'm currently developing a fully funded, unique nightclub project in LA. We are in the preliminary stages of identifying potential talent to staff this club. The concept is a lavish, Las Vegas-style themed club called
"DEEP"!! which will cater to an upscale affluent clientele. Don't worry if you reside outside of LA, if you have the skills we are looking for, I anticipate being authorized to bring in talent from outside LA for shorter engagements. We have budgeted an obscene amount for travel and lodging to bring in ladies who have the skills!
The focal point of the space will be a massive 20 foot deep, clear water tank in the middle of the club which will contain chests of beer in customized refrigeration units at the bottom. The idea will be for people to order beers from their "waitress" and then watch the "waitress" dive for their beers. The waitresses must be excellent swimmers (obviously) and be able to hold their breath for these very deep dives. This will pay VERY well when the nightclub opens.
To clarify, the word "waitress" is something of a misnomer. The beer divers are more like performers and will only be responsible for diving down for beers. They will be paired with a civilian, non-diving waiter or waitress who will deliver food, bring checks, and run credit cards and handle all other aspects of the service experience etc. More like a show biz gig than actual waitressing. We intend to make "rock stars" out of our beer divers (calendars, press coverage, the works!) We are looking for pretty, athletic women of all shapes and sizes. This will be great exposure for your modeling or acting career along with a great opportunity to make a boatload of ca$h! It helps if you are a natural show-off and LOVE to be the center of attention too!
You must be at least 18 years of age and willing and able to "swim for your supper." Is this something you might be interested in? Or - do you know anyone else who could do it? Nightclub anticipated to be completed by May '13. Tryouts to be held soon after, summer '13. Details to follow. RD
---
At this point, we are certainly not looking for any type of commitment. Given the unusual physical and aquatic skills we are looking for, we are going to need girls year-round and we can accommodate short term schedules (such as working over a long weekend or over a break in your schedule etc.
OK - you are going to LOVE this!
So here's where the rubber meets the road
For this role, the main prerequisite would be extremely good swimming, diving and breath holding ability. It sounds like you have a lot of confidence in your swimming background, but can you elaborate on your underwater skills as they would apply to this specific stunt?
The top of the tank will have a platform from which the "waitress" can dive into the water (to take advantage of the extra momentum that will generate). It will be exactly 20 feet from the top of the waterline to the top of the customized beer cooler. The girls must perform a 20 foot free dive barefoot (without fins and holding your breath) open the right color-coded storage unit, retrieve a beer, re-close the storage unit and then swim back to the surface. Really, it's 40 feet roundtrip but you will be able to push hard off the bottom once you close the customized cooler, which will help. But still, it's a pretty long ascent when you're pretty oxygen depleted and you'll need to kick pretty hard to get back to the surface with no help from fins. A 20 foot dive is fairly deep and the water pressure will begin to get a little heavy at that depth so you will probably need to be able to equalize your ears. So, why so deep and why barefoot? Well first, the name of the club is "Deep" (so obviously that creates certain expectations in the eyes of the customers). Of course, the deeper the dive, the more dramatic it appears visually. Of course it also looks better barefoot which also adds to the challenge. Do you think you can dive that deep barefoot? We are actually looking for the dive to take longer rather than shorter. I know that's counter-intuitive, but the high-end customer will want to watch his diver for as long as possible and that's why no flippers. The design folks also think that bare feet will look better with some of the costumes they are considering. Finally, there is a general thought that allowing flippers would make the dive too easy (as in "no big deal - anybody can do that"). You need the level of WOW in there if your going to expect people to pay for it. The strength needed to do it, and the lung capacity to get down there, get the right beer, and head back up, is what they're paying for. To pay much higher fees, there needs to be a wow factor, and the difficulty and depth is that. I don't want to make this sound too hard either. For a really strong swimmer, the dive is challenging, but extremely doable (just not one an average swimmer can pull off).
We do expect that the tryouts will be rigorous. It's next to impossible to find a pool that is deep enough. Diving wells can go about 17 feet but it's important to make sure the ladies can go the full 20 feet.When the time comes, we will invite you in and ask you to wear your bathing suit under your clothes. We will conduct a brief interview and then you will be asked to disrobe to your bathing suit and execute the dive probably twice (with a 10 minute rest).The girls will be allowed to wear goggles for better vision, but no other equipment (i.e. flippers or breathing apparatus). The deep dive must be completed barefoot and unassisted (i.e. with only the air you can hold in your lungs). We've been planning an incentive for the tryout which will probably be as simple as putting a $100 bill inside an empty beer bottle filled with sand and placing it at the bottom of the tank. The girls who can dive down and retrieve it keep the money and get the job (or something like that)
We will also probably time the girls to see how long they can hold their breath. Do you know off hand how long you can hold your breath?
We obviously expect to have to pay our underwater waitresses very well b/c the work is so physically challenging. Don't worry - we "get" that part. The precise details of the compensation package have not been finalized yet but we will be working on putting something together over the next few weeks. We are talking about various packages (guarantees, tips, per dive bonuses etc.) When it all shakes out, I can bet that it will be quite profitable work for the candidates who have the right aquatic skills. $1,500 - $2,000 a night is realistic and we can go over how we get to that estimate. We'll can chat more about the specifics if you feel you have the right aquatic skills.
Can't wait to hear back from you! RD
---
Thanks Raina - you wouldn't necessarily have to be fast, as long as you can hold your breath for a long time. It's more about the sensuality than speed. Deginitely put it out to your mermaid community. There's bound to be some great swimmers in that community. RD
Bookmarks