In a Las Vegas casino, a man lifts up his phone to film the creatures swimming in the 117,000-gallon aquarium at the Silverton hotel. Most have tails – but he is interested in the two women doing backflips underwater. Their colourful tails look thick and as if they might feel rubbery to touch. When one raises a hand to smile and wave, a little girl stares at her: could that actually be a mermaid?
These women are part of the Circus Siren Pod, a performance group from Washington DC run by Morgana Alba, a no-nonsense, ex-military former circus performer who is its founder. She is one of the main characters in the Netflix documentary series MerPeople. It is about just that: adults who wiggle their way into mermaid tails – lube helps – to perform underwater ballet, build personal brands and meet fellow obsessives.
