Today we’d like to introduce you to Morgana Alba.
Hi Morgana, please kick things off for us with an introduction to yourself and your story.
The Circus Siren Pod is an international team of professional mermaids that started out of a small dream of bringing a little more magic into the world. Based out of Washington D.C. the group has a strong focus on representation and breaking the historically homogenous mold of what a mermaid can look like.
The pod was founded by Morgana Alba, a circus acrobat who added “mermaiding” to her skill set on a whim. The demand for this kind of novelty and escapism quickly became apparent and she changed focus from performing herself, to finding and training ecelectic artists to become mermaids.
Today the pod has 35 performers, living in 3 countries and performs year round at everything from waterparks and aquariums to festivals and casinos. You can see more about their work in the Netflix Docuseries – “Merpeople”
Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way. Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
Morgana was instrumental in building the mermaiding industry into what it is today. With a background in 4engineering she was a pioneer in creating mobile mermaid tank shows, allowing mermaiding to be introduced to new audiences and making this unique style of entertainment more accessible to the masses. The pod has also faced push back, both from clients and online for their focus on featuring talented performers of all backgrounds and walks of life – we’ve even lost clients for our refusal to discriminate on the basis of gender, race, or size. Through it all, this unique group of artists hae become each others support system and changed the way mermaiding is viewed throughout the world.
Can you tell our readers more about what you do and what you think sets you apart from others?
Morgana and the Circus Siren Pod are most proud of the influence we’ve had on the industry as whole in creating more opportunities for professional mermaids, setting industry safety standards, promoting inclusion and represention, training new mermaid performers, and creating the largest convention in mermaiding, MerMagic Con
Can you talk to us a bit about the role of luck?
You can’t have success in this industry if you don’t work hard – but you have to be lucky too. The biggest luck for The Circus Siren Pod was just “right time, right place, right skill set”
If Morgana hadn’t gone to college for engineering, she wouldn’t have revolutionized the mobile mermaid tank shows that catapulted the company to the forefront of the industry. If she had gotten into mermaiding later when it was more popular, someone else would have likely beat her to the punch. And make no mistake – if she herself hadn’t (luckily) visually fit the 20th century media image of a “mermaid” she never would have gotten in the room and been able to break down the walls for others.
Pricing:
- Booking a mermaid experience is anywhere from $400 – $4000 depending on type and scale of show
- You can meet our mermaids at paid and free events all over the country – follow us on social media to see when we’re coming to a sea near you.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.CircusSirenPod.com
- Instagram: @CircusSirenPod
- Facebook: @CircusSirenPod
- Youtube: @CircusSirenPod
- Other: TikTok : @CircusSirenPod
