On Saturday afternoon, a group of adults dressed as bedazzled flies buzzed around with enthusiasm as a different group of adults dressed as flower-clad flamingos hopped from foot to foot in the hotel lobby. The charmingly bizarre scene was the backstage of Synchroswim, an amateur synchronized-ish swimming/performance art competition put on by the Washington Project for the Arts.

For the fifth year, teams of bedecked swimmers dove in to the waters of the Capitol Skyline Hotel Pool to perform routines that were judged by both a panel and the crowd. While some were actually synchronized, “free expression of creativity” was encouraged. Melissa Chiu, director of the Hirshhorn; Lauren Landau, host of WAMU’s Art Beat; and Doug Yeuell, director of the Atlas Performing Arts Center pulled out the big score cards to give points based “execution” and “visual spectacle.” The crowd cast its vote at the end by cheering. Welcome to the world of synchronized swimming competitions.