Since Disney's Princess Ariel first hit the big screen over two decades ago, many little girls (and some boys) have dreamt of becoming a mermaid.
Now mermaid Crystal, as she is known, is helping turn those fantasies into reality in her swimming classes with a difference in The Netherlands.
"It's amazing," smiled a starry-eyed Marijke, 27. "It's every little girl's dream."
Marijke, Lize and Katja are among the first pupils at Crystal's Meermin School Nederland.
It is billed as the country's "first professional school" for mermaids and is only one of a handful in Europe where the phenomenon of "mermaiding" is beginning to make waves after arriving from the United States and Canada.
At the public swimming pool in the central Dutch town of Zeist, the would-be mermaids are learning to swim like Ariel, their legs firmly bound in tight material tails.
Daubed in bright aquatic prints to resemble shiny scales, the faux tails take some time to wriggle into before they can slide into the water for some intense underwater aerobics.
It's all in the technique, according to Crystal, real name Marijke Pie, who says "the movement begins from the tummy."
Her advice? Keep your feet together, don't bend the knees too much, but try to do a dolphin kick using your abdominal muscles.
