DANCING IN WATER.

Byline: Whitney Malkin The Register-Guard

OAKRIDGE - Close to 200 people will cram themselves into the backyard of a gray two-story house on Poplar Street tonight.

They'll unpack their lawn chairs.

Jockey for position around Ranell Curl's swimming pool.

And wait eagerly for the mermaids to appear.

In a town without a public swimming pool, rumors of a synchronized swim team are more than enough to draw a crowd.

Some say these girls can dance on the water.

Others say they've never seen anything like it.

The swim team members love the training and the attention.

"At first I thought it was insane," says 17-year-old team captain Katie Zimmerman of the six-hours-a-day practices and grueling workouts. "But then I fell in love with it. It has become my passion."

Like many others on the team, Zimmerman learned to swim in the 40-foot by 20-foot pool, taking lessons from Curl.

A California native, Curl moved to Oakridge in 1973, and seven years later, installed a pool. She has been teaching Red Cross water safety classes in her backyard ever since.

One year she had swimmers perform bits of a synchronized routine at the end of their swim recital. Parents loved it.

They asked if Curl could teach their children more.

So she started the team, and word got out. The team's year-end performance just kept growing.

"We have girls who come to watch the show each summer and say `I want to do that,'" Curl says with a smile. "They love it."

Swimmers like current team member Jordan Trantham, the team's youngest member, who has been waiting impatiently for the past few years to join the team.

At age 8, she already can do a backward dive.

Older team members tease her that she only has a few years to polish her skills.

"They say, `You can be cute 'til you're 10,'" Curl says, the faint hint of a smile playing on her face. "Then, you better be good."

The allure of synchronized swimming, which combines dance, swim and music, is such a draw that Curl's team lures girls from Eugene and Springfield who drive in to practice each day. Trantham, from Newberg, stays with a local family during the team's summer-only schedule.

There aren't any synchronized swim teams in Eugene, Curl says. The only teams she knows of are in the Portland-area and Corvallis.

Because of the lack of local competition, the team doesn't travel or compete.

But they never fail to draw a crowd for their one-night performance.

"The girls tell me I should install bleachers," Curl says with a laugh. "But in all reality, it's only one night."

One night when people let reality slip a little and lean forward, drawn into the music and movement.

One night when the girls abandon their swim caps and one pieces for costumes and up-do's.

Perhaps the only night when, under the dim lights of a summer evening, mythical mermaids become a reality.

"There aren't many things you can do that just `Wow' people," 12-year-old Reagan Weiland, a four-year team veteran, says. "But with this ... you can. People come and they just can't believe what we can do."

PERFORMANCE

What: "Back in Time" synchronized swim performance

When: Today, 9 p.m.; gates open at 8 p.m.

Where: 76504 Poplar St. Oakridge

Admission: Free. Bring your own lawn chair; refreshments served at intermission.