Yuan Story | Born to the sea

The first female free diving coach in China Rida, who has held the world's first mermaid performance competition in Shenzhen, and many of the first first in the history of the domestic mermaid sports development are related to Shenzhen

On December 21, 2021, the winter solstice, Sanya, south of the north latitude, is warm and warm.

In the Atlantis Aquarium on the sea, a group of "mermaids" swayed with gorgeous and delicate fishtails under the water, dancing with music, in the blue water, their swimming posture was smart, and they came from the prince in the underwater mythology. With the princess, the bubbles in the water sometimes added a little cute to the mermaids.

This is the first Chinese Mermaid Performance Contest. After two days of the game, the women's single, men's single, and group groups were born. What makes Rida (netizens prefer to call her DADA) is pleased that in the three groups of championships, the team champion and the women's championship, they all came from the "Mermaid Legion" she created in that year.

As the first female free diving instructor in China, Rida trained the first batch of professional mermaid diving and underwater performers in 2015. In September 2017, she held the world's first mermaid performance competition in the Shenzhen Shekou Value Factory. Entrusted by the Water Sports Management Center of the State General Administration of Sport, Rida served as a technical consultant to participate in the writing and formulating the national mermaid competition manual and judgment standards. In the first Chinese Mermaid Performance Contest, she was one of the three technical referees and led more than 20 assistant referees to judge the final result for this performance competition.

"The world is so big, I want to see it." In 2015, the words appeared in a resignation letter quickly became popular. It was also that year, Rida resolutely resigned and lived a life of "chasing white fin sharks in Mexico, tuning tiger sharks in Bahamas, and Indonesian whale sharks ...". But her life is not only diving, she is a marine explorer, a stage drama director, and an underwater model in the advertisement and a travel blogger with millions of fans. She will also make documentary.

She said that there is only one way of success in life, that is, always love your life.

Little Mermaid Program

One month before my interview, Rida went to sea again.

The Acel Islands, located in the North Atlantic, are the destinations where Rida and her German camera team went. This is the largest whale protection area in the world. The filming team where Rida is located specifically shoots underwater marine life to shoot underwater materials and documentary for TV stations. As a team member, she is responsible for shooting behind the scenes. The team has a franchise diving qualification certificate, and often has the opportunity to shoot underwater creatures at close range underwater.

Rida told me that this was just one of her recent projects. To this end, she went to Germany from Shenzhen in April. She currently lives temporarily in the city in southwestern Germany. As a travel blogger, she wants to continue to output the content of island travel. In 2019, Rida had set a plan for himself. He hoped that starting in 2020, it took a year or two to travel around, and continued to make content, but he did not expect that a new crown epidemic disrupted all these all these. Plan and arrangement. Since the outbreak, she has often thought about whether to transform in this nearly 3 years. But there is no change at all, that is, she still wants to explore more marine creatures and waters she has always wanted to see, thereby getting a steady stream of satisfaction. "This original intention has never changed." Although currently facing heavy difficulties, Rida still chose to continue, because she hopes that "when she is younger, she can complete some plans or the direction of life set by herself as soon as possible." Essence

In June of this year, Rida also as the producer, with the theme of the new documentary project "The World of Finding Sea Errors" with the theme of China ’s marine history and culture and marine environmental protection theme, participated in the French International Sunshine Documentary Festival. This is the only shortlisted conference this year. Chinese proposal. On the international platform, it is specially introduced to find out the current status of ancient Chinese marine life. It is an unprecedented new experience in Rida. Originally, she only planned to make this documentary well. People who are more mature documentary are the same. This is more like an extra surprise given to a traveler who gives a focus on the way. "I have always believed that the road has come out step by step. Often, I can only see hope when I go all out." Rida officially appeared on the stage of the documentary festival with "World of Finding the World" At that time, she wrote in the circle of friends.

In the dense itinerary of Rida, there is also a "Little Mermaid Program". It was a project that she cooperated with the European Disabled Association to teach the disabled people to learn diving. This plan stems from a series of diving of the disabled person with the team. At that time, she taught three of the disabled people to learn free diving because of free diving relative to water and lung diving simple, which could reduce the burden of disabled people under the water. Watching the three disabled people who learned free diving found the heart buoyancy in the water, the whole person became like a healthy person, and Rida was very moved.

Among them, a girl was highly paraplegia, sitting in a wheelchair, and a boy lacking a whole leg. Once, under the help and guidance of Rida, the two tried a dance performance in the water. The girl found a balance in the water, standing upright in the water, the boy swimmed by her, and the two did a small dance action, which surprised the two young people. They dare not imagine that they could do it. Such a performance. "They are completely compared to normal people on land. They are even better in the water in the water than some of the students who have previous students. They rely on their own abilities in the water to achieve a relatively sound state of people. It even feels like they are reborn. "This performance deeply touched Rida. Seeing this scene, Rida immediately stated to the girl that she wanted to customize a set of fishtails for her. "She was shining with her eyes at the time, and was very excited. You can see that you ignite the needs of a person's recognition." This made Rida remember. In November of this year, Rida will meet with a well -made fish tail to meet this girl in Mexico, so that her and her partners will have a dream of diving in the real sea. At that time, their diving process would be recorded by Rida and her team with a camera.

▲ People have many dimensions. The ocean and free diving gives Rida a different perspective of looking at the world.

▲ Rida said that there is only one way of success in life, that is, always love your life.

▲ When she didn't go to sea, Rida liked to draw, and those creatures and landscapes that had met in the water met her in another way.

▲ Rida in the French International Sunshine Documentary Festival.

Fly like a bird

"Under the water, what fascinated you most?" I asked Rida.

She asked me, "Can you swim?"

"Have you dived under the water under the pool? Just lie under the swimming pool, and then look at the water?" She continued to ask.

"I haven't seen the water from bottom to top. But the most comfortable state in the water is to borrow the buoyancy of the water to float on the water. At that moment, I will feel very relaxed." I answered her with the experience of a amateur swimming enthusiast.

"I might be similar." The most fascinated was her state in the water.

Rida is from Guangzhou. She has liked swimming since she was a child. She looked at the world from the bottom of the community swimming pool. She found that "it is different". This special perspective and experience run through her life so far. "Later, when I really dived, I felt like flying in the water. You got rid of the restraint of gravity and communicated with the water. You will not feel too much physical touch. The inspiring physical feelings are different from all the feelings on land in the past, so this part makes me very fascinating. Especially when I put on my feet, my legs moved lightly, I am like a bird, in the water, in the water, in the water, in the water, in the water, in the water, in the water, in the water, in the water, in the water, in the water, in the water能划到别的地方，然后再动一动，就划到另一个地方。你能够借助水的浮力，跟你的梦境对接，有的时候我做梦会飞，然后我发现我在水中真的可以（ Fly), this feeling is still very fascinated by me. "Speaking of the feeling of underwater, Rida was obviously overwhelming.

The fate with water can detect a bit from her name. His father once told Rida's meaning of her name. "The word" Li "of Rida has a 'water'. Like the relationship between people and water, it probably gives me a kind of closeness and longing for water. . My dad also said the word 'Da', just like a boat, I was very smooth when I encountered water. "In Rida's view, this may be a arrangement in the fate. From a small to large, my father guided all guidance She chooses and pursues the life she wants to live bravely. "When I was a kid, I could also take me to swim, especially my dad did not treat me as a girl since I was a child. I can help at some critical moments in the future, "she said.

Rida was the earliest group of people in China who performed diving and mermaid performances, but she was not a professional background. At first, she was only a hobby. She studied at Dalian Maritime University and studied logistics engineering in maritime transportation. Beginning in 2009, she worked and lives in Shenzhen and engaged in international trade. Because of doing maritime trade, she is familiar with many overseas ports and canals. This exotic life that this maritime work has exposed to her cognitive boundaries, and she also recognizes that she is different from the past. Perhaps at that time, the seeds of diving and marine adventure had been quietly buried.

In the "Eleventh" holiday in 2012, Rida, who was busy with work, finally had time to travel. In Phuket, Thailand, she first came into contact with free diving. This new underwater world attracted her at once, and the shock and surprise brought by the diving made Rida obsessed with the dream after returning to China. "I found that the usual cognition of this world was subverted, so I was thinking every day, so I was thinking every day. , I have to go to the water, I have to learn it. " Later, she moved to the Philippines several times, not only obtained the free diving qualification certificate, but also became a PADI (international professional diving training system) free diving trainer and AIDA (International Free Diving Development Association) international free diving coach and referee.

Although it is the first female free diving instructor in China, Rida does not really teach students to dive for a long time. In 2015, after the 31 -year -old resigned and concentrated on being a coach, an unexpected car accident made her legs break. It was also a period of time when she couldn't get into the water to be a coach. Let more people participate in diving and fall in love with diving. "I started to post some underwater videos at the time, including the mermaid performance and diving videos. I received a lot of attention on the Internet. I think this may be a different place with other people who work in the same type. Visual categories, prefer to perform rather than competitive. I don't care how long I can hold my breath and how many meters will be dived. I think everyone should enjoy this sport. "Infected everyone through vision, this is also she later cultivated the mermaid performance athletes and The original intention of travel bloggers. ▲ You can use the buoyancy of the water to connect with your dream. Sometimes I dream of flying, and then I find that I can really (fly) in the water. This feeling is still fascinated by me. ——Reda

Mermaid Play Competition

Because of free diving, swimming, swimming, yoga and dance, the legendary mermaid movement has become the current trendy underwater movement. But many people don't know that many of the first first in the history of the development of the domestic mermaid movement are related to Shenzhen.

On June 18 this year, the Shenzhen Mermaid Athletic Team was officially established, which is the first city -level mermaid competition team in the country. Lei Yingtao and Jiang Keying of this competitive team are men's and women's champions in the first Chinese Mermaid Performance. The championship of the first Chinese Mermaid Performance Tournament was the Shenzhen Team Nanhai Mermaid Group. Rida was invited to participate in the world's first national mermaid competition manual "National Mermaid Mermaid Mermaid Manual", which was written by the Shenzhen Nanshan District Diving Association and was compiled after 4 months. The assistant referees led by Rida and the other two technical consultants were also born in the "First National Mermaid Referee Training Course" held in Nanshan. This is China's first batch of mermaid sports referees.

"Mermaid performances have achieved very good development in recent years. The number of participants is large, especially those we do. Everyone thinks that China is really incredible to do this. I feel that we have not done such a thing for decades, and we have achieved catching up in the past two years. " And when it comes to the development of early mermaid performances in the country, it belongs to her moment.

As the first stage director to combine diving and mermaid performances, Rida released a video on the Internet in 2015, which is different from ordinary mermaids. Because of her free diving skills, she is really true. It was naturally smart to perform with professional skills in the underwater air. Therefore, this video made the Guangzhou Zhengjia Aquarium, who was planning to open the museum at the time, noticed her. Because she likes to create and director since she was a child, in her opinion, this is a new opportunity she has been looking for, and it has come to the time when she has been looking for diving skills and creative performances. She was looking for professional swimmers who had retired at the time, allowing them to "show their true strength" in the water.

Soon, Rida was invited to form his own "Mermaid Legion". "In those two years, the 'DADA Mermaid Corps' is very popular in the domestic aquarium and diving circle. The mermaid performed by this team is very popular, especially children who love to watch." Chang'e ran to the moon, superhero ... Da Da created different theme performances, and she put all the wonderful thoughts into short dramas and tried it underwater. At its peak, there were three or four venues in China invited them to perform in the field. During that time, she was both the boss, also the director and the screenwriter, and even the dance design. At the same time, she also tried to take the mermaid course. I hope that the team members can teach more people to join it in the future.

The birth of new things is often accompanied by speculation and follow -up. In those two years, the development of domestic mermaids was particularly rapidly developing, so competition became fierce, and the industry was chaotic. Some venues do not pursue original performances. They only need the mermaid to come to the scene to help, and the market space is squeezed. Rida who is unwilling to compromise on the content chooses to give up the mermaid to continue to move forward. In 2017, she disbanded the team. Later, many people became coaches and found a new direction.

Therefore, last year's first China Mermaid Performance Contest Awards, I saw that the team members of the year not only did not leave this profession, but also boarded the national podium. Potentially, they received my strong training at the time, and I also had my understanding of the performance during the competition. I could build this matter through my own experience and hard work, and let them stand here to receive the prize. I think life is worth it. For me. The Mermaid Legion, this incident is a good ending. When it is dissolved five years ago, there must be regrets, but when they presented on another stage, they are also related to me. This is a very worthwhile thing. "

More than once, Rida was asked how diving shaped her. Rida didn't think too much. In her opinion, diving is not how to shape her, but has become an indispensable part of her life. "Free diving led me to a certain state because the diving itself covered me itself The difficulties or fear that need to be overcome, it prompts me to face it with caution and get the corresponding ability, and then face the challenges of different moments, I can choose not to be afraid. This is a great impact that diving has brought me. " From free diving coaches to leading teams to promote diving, become the organizers of diving exhibitions, and to marine storyators and marine travel bloggers. In the diving career of Rida, they are also interspersed with shooting and production documentaries and marine public welfare environmental protection. Work. Even though many role conversion, she always believes that people have many dimensions. The ocean and free diving gives her a different perspective of looking at the world, so she hugs this change to her, feedback or pursues her own life. She They are all ways to get life satisfaction.

The new China Mermaid Performance Contest is still preparing. In the past two days, Rida, who loves life, went to the Acel Islands again, and she will meet the new marine life and unknown scenery again.

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Coordinating: Ma Jiyuan

Reporter: Duan Fengying

Drawing: Gouter

Edit: Ye Hui

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