Such an honor @nytimes !! Special thanks to @giadk and @mosadek for letting me share some underwater dance with all of you! @nytimes A mermaid in Midtown! “I’m trying to be one with the water,” said @claire_friesen, a synchronized swimmer and actress. “I feel most creative when I’m able to step out of my brain and into my body. Dancing underwater is a form of meditation.” Claire — she was in the show “La Rêve” and a member of the Canadian national synchronized swimming team — will be featured in “Lake of Dreams,” an underwater project directed by @kennyortegablog, in December. Here, as a toast to summer, she performs an improvisation to Chopin in the pool at @mphc.nyc. “I grew up in the ocean and on the beach,” said Claire, who lived in Qatar as a child with her family, “and that’s where I was always swimming.” She can stay underwater for 4 minutes without breathing. “You get a sensation of having to breathe underwater, almost in a panic, but you really don’t,” she told the #nytimes dance critic @giadk. “If you’re calm through it, then you have so much time. And especially in the ocean. It’s just so magical.” @mosadek made this video for #SpeakingInDance, our weekly series exploring the world of #dance.