A Student Who Dreamed Of Becoming A Disneyland Princess Is Now An Underwater Performing Mermaid At The Aquarium Of

tour du mont blanc 【环勃朗峰】" style="max-width:400px;float:left;padding:10px 10px 10px 0px;border:0px;">A student who dreamed of becoming a Disneyland princess is now an underwater performing mermaid at the Aquarium of [/news/western-australia/index.html Western Australia].
Madeleine Petty, from [/news/perth/index.html Perth], studied performing arts with a background in ballet before auditioning three times for the role of a fairytale princess at a Disney theme park - but she didn't succeed.
After a few months working as a tour hà nội hà giang guide at Perth aquarium (AQWA), the 21-year-old was offered the chance to become a 'performing mermaid' in October 2018.
'I definitely won't be leaving anytime soon. It's a challenging but fulfilling job,' Ms Petty told FEMAIL.
She said there is a strong correlation between practicing ballet and being a performing mermaid, with both jobs requiring gracefulness, long breaths and 'making the difficult look effortless'.
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Madeleine Petty (pictured) aspired to become a princess at Disneyland's theme park, but she is now an underwater performing mermaid at The Aquarium of Western Australia (AQWA)
The 21-year-old was offered the gig after unsuccessfully auditioning to become a Disney theme park princess three times
Ms Petty said the life of an underwater preforming mermaid begins with an early start at 5:45am.
To create a 'magical' mermaid look, she wears a colourful wig and waterproof make-up which takes up to 90 minutes to fix and apply.
Since Ms Petty still works a second job as a tour hà giang guide at the aquarium, the wig keeps her true identity disguised to ensure children don't recognise her after the performance.
'I'm a big believer in keeping the magic alive and I also think the style completes the look, because my envision of a mermaid is one with beautiful, long flowing hair in the water,' she said.
The wig itself takes between 30 and 40 minutes to apply, which is a tricky process involving glue and a multitude of bobby pins to ensure it doesn't move.
Ms Petty does her underwater makeup herself, a process that takes 45 minutes to complete.
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Ms Petty is a super-fit and healthy mermaid as she swims with 17kg attached to her throughout the performance; the tail alone weighs 13kg 
Ms Petty said the life of an underwater preforming mermaid begins with an early morning start of 5:45am to prepare hair and makeup. After arriving at work, she prepares her stunning tail ready for the three-hour performance which runs from 10am to 1pm
After arriving at work, she prepares her stunning tail ready for the three-hour performance which runs from 10am to 1pm.
'It takes a bit of time to get into the tail because they are very tight and heavy - I often need to use oil to get into them,' she said, adding the process often takes 20 minutes.
During the three-hour performance in the aquarium tank, the mermaids are given a 15-minute break per hour.
Ms Petty is a super-fit and healthy mermaid, swimming with 17kg strapped to her throughout each performance.
The tail weighs 13kg, but she also wears 3kg ankle weights and a one kilo weight on her lower back to ensure she doesn't float to the top of the salt-water tank. 
'It can be quite dangerous so you need to make sure you always know what you're doing, because inside the tail your ankles are tied together all while being underwater,' she said. 
'It can be quite dangerous so you need to make sure you always know what you're doing, because inside the tail your ankles are tied together all while being underwater,' Ms Petty said
During the performance, the mermaids swim to the tune of a playlist they have memorised because there is nothing but silence inside the water
During the performance, two mermaids swim at the same time surrounded by sea life such as fish, stingrays and friendly sharks.
While the job is unique and rewarding, Ms Petty says it is incredibly challenging as the salt water burns her eyes and the water matches the temperature of the Indian ocean, which averages between 20 and 25 degrees Celsius.
'I choose to stay in the water throughout the entire performance, because if I get out and wrap myself in a towel, I won't want to go back in since it's so cold,' she said.
'It was difficult to get used to being uncomfortable all the time at the start - the long breath holds, the burning of my eyes and sinuses, and being in a tail for so long.'
While submerged in the water, mermaids cannot see or hear anything and must be careful to avoid bumping into any of the creatures in the tank.
During the performance, they swim to the tune of a memorised playlist because there is nothing but silence inside the water.
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