Artistic swimmers ‘dance’ in Clinton pool
Swimmers Barbara Reeve, from left, and Iyaka Komata learned and practiced how to make this formation with the East Tennessee Dolphins artistic swimming group at the Clinton Community Center pool. (photo:Ben Pounds )
It was the last Clinton practice for the East Tennessee Dolphins, an artistic swim team on May 13. They had met there since March 25. The group was getting ready to perform for a private event, proud of what they’d accomplished. The pool’s public family swimming has resumed on Tuesday evenings since then.
Artistic swimming, formerly known as synchronized swimming, involves moving through the water to music, similar to dance or figure skating.
DolphinsCcoach Sharon Burlingame learned artistic swimming from her mother, and passed it down to her daughter, C.J. Mitchell, an Anderson County High School alumna who’s 37 years old but started artistic swimming at age 5.
Both live in Fairview now and both were swimming with the Dolphins May 13. Sometimes they and others compete, but Burlingame said she liked to see people enjoy artistic swimming as a pastime.
“It’s fun and relaxing,” Burlingame said. “It’s a little less boring than swimming laps because you get to use your creativity.”
The Dolphins included two smaller groups that day, an advanced group which included Iyaka Komata and Barbara Reeve, swimming a routine with Burlingame, and an advanced group of Mitchell and Joyce Dowd.
“I love music and dance,” said Mitchell. “And I love moving through the water.”
Dowd has done artistic swimming for even longer than Mitchell, starting at age 3, through her current age of 67.
She said her favorite part, even after all those years, is “working at getting better,” whether it means holding her breath for longer periods, or perfecting different moves.
To learn more about artistic swimming, email easttnartisticswim@gmail.com.
