We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Celine Van de Voorde. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Celine below.

Alright, Celine thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. Have you been able to earn a full-time living from your creative work? If so, can you walk us through your journey and how you made it happen? Was it like that from day one? If not, what were some of the major steps and milestones and do you think you could have sped up the process somehow knowing what you know now?

Being a Pro Mermaid didn’t exist in Europe when I first started out in 2004 as far as I know, the only thing that I knew was that I loved performing (I was studying Acting, Singing & Dancing at the time), I loved being underwater, swimming like a mermaid and wanted to know what it felt like to swim in a tail. So I decided to make myself one and see what I could do, I’m a certified scuba diver and free diver, because our job is not without risk and there’s lots of technique involved. At first I only had a Facebook page where I started promoting myself, very slowly the gigs started pouring in. I didn’t know anything about marketing myself so I’m pretty sure that if I knew back then how to market myself, it would’ve probably gone a lot quicker. But nevertheless, after a couple of years, I was asked frequently worldwide to perform, from birthday parties, to corporate events, to aquarium shows and even movies and videoclips.

Celine, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?

My name is Celine and I’m the first Pro Mermaid Performer in Belgium. When I was younger, The Little Mermaid was my favorite Disney movie, I never understood why Ariel wanted to be human while all I wanted was to have a tail and be able to breathe underwater. The funny thing is that becoming a Mermaid Performer was never even my initial dream, I wanted to become an actress in movies, theater, musicals etc, studied and graduated in the Performing Arts. So then how did it happen? Well my passion and interest in Mermaid Folklore never left, even when I got older. One day, when I was 16, I thought: “I’m going to make myself a tail and see what I can do, we’ll go from there…”.

I did a lot of research on how to make myself a tail that was both functional, safe and – of course – I wanted it to look credible. My first tail took me a year to finish, I sewed more than 20,000 sequins by hand to the body to mimic the fish scales, started to promote myself (insta, fb) and the rest is history. Slowly but steadily I started getting gigs; first nationally eventually internationally. So you could say that the mermaid job chose me which I think is pretty cool, I never thought my life would take this path.

Whenever I’m underwater I feel at home. In real life I’m introverted, I have my bagage and I’m working hard on my mental health and personal growth (I have a history of depression and anxiety). When I’m underwater it all disappears; my head is quiet, my inner critique shuts up and I can just be. Literally flow, let myself be carried by the water. I can’t fully explain but I feel at peace underwater, happy, confident… It’s very soothing. Simultaneously bringing a little magic and joy to my audience is the best of both worlds.

My love for the ocean translates in what I do as well. Recently, I was able to check one of my all time dream photoshoots of my bucket list. Ever since I started out as a mermaid performer I always dreamed of doing a shoot, hanging upside down caught by fishermen, to bring more awareness to the whale/shark/illegal fishing. It was a shoot that took a lot of preparation and wasn’t without risk, I needed to find the right people: the photographer had lots of experience working with ropes safely (he works for the rescue departement in the army) which was crucial for this shoot since I had to be able to hang safely upside down without getting hurt and for an extended period of time. I was very happy with the results and also glad that it was very well received by my followers and people in general, us Merfolk Performers are the Ambassadors of the Oceans and each one of us is trying their best, in their one way, to help raise awareness to protect the Big Blue.

I’m really happy and proud of what I was able to accomplish until now, who knew that this was the path I would walk (well, swim actually), my biggest dream now would be to act in a movie, as a mermaid. I still want to fulfill my dream of being an actress, who knows, maybe I’ll get to turn that into a reality as well.

We’d love to hear a story of resilience from your journey.

I actually experienced an identity crisis during the pandemic. I remember very well the day we went in lockdown here in Belgium, the 13th of March 2020. a couple of weeks prior to that I already started receiving mails and messages from companies I was working with, worldwide, that hired me for gigs. They were talking about Corona and how they were not sure if it would all still go through, and then it happened, I lost all my gigs in that one day, the 13th. It felt very unreal, a part of me was expecting it, prepared for it to some extent but for it to happen for real was something else entirely. I also simply can’t imagine what the people who were losing loved ones left and right, worldwide, were going through, it was crazy.

After the initial blow of not having any gigs I was actually starting to like the free time I was given. Before I was always running around from gig to gig, working on my tails etc and now I was able to take some time to relax and reflect. It didn’t take very long for me, however, to start losing myself in all of that. I started wondering about my own identity, if I was not Mermaid Celine, then who was I? Because I always saw my “Mermaid self” as an extent of who I already am, not a character I created. that’s also what I love about being myself when I’m in my tail, I’m not acting, I’m not playing someone else, it’s just me and yes sure, there are some parts that are a bit more extrovert but that’s about it.

It’s been years since I spoke to a psychiatrist but I decided to go back after having some very dark thoughts, I was seriously considering giving up on being a Mermaid Performer, I felt like a failure. I was really scared since I started feeling all those things that I felt back when I had my depression. My psychiatrist, then told me something that now became one of my daily used mantras: “You don’t always have to do, you are allowed to just be, that’s why we are called beings”. This one really stuck and made me realize that I constantly felt that I was only worthy when I was doing things. Do you ever feel very guilty when lying on the couch, watching a movie? “You’re not doing anything, get off of your lazy ass and do something!” Is what my inner critique would tell me… it’s awful. But slowly and steadily, with the help of my therapist, I was able to put everything more in perspective and learn to be kinder to myself, which is SO important. I’m stil not there but I feel more secure and I don’t feel guilty anymore when I just want to be.

Looking back, are there any resources you wish you knew about earlier in your creative journey?

Sometimes I wished I was more interested in the more “boring” side of the whole “having your own business” thing, which is marketing, sales, administration and more. If I would’ve spend more time in all of that, I feel like I could have done more or be further along in my career than I am now.

But on the other hand I’m also happy with how it went like it did, because it enabled me to meet people and see places that I probably otherwise wouldn’t have and I’m very grateful for that. Also, the people I met along the way are helping me to becoming a better performer now, and a better person as well.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.mermaidceline.com
• Instagram: mermaidceline
• Facebook: Mermaid celine
• Youtube: Mermaid Celine
• Other: Tiktok: mermaidceline

Image Credits
Florine Jonnekin Filip Staes Waybeyondproductions Thomas Van Puymbroeck Focuslive Guy Schotte Maria Mirage