Bert Hubbard

Albert Hubbard (born June 29, 1927) is an American synchronized swimmer, choreographer and coach. He is also an aquatic artist as well as historian of the International Academy of Aquatic Art.

File:Hubbard Bert - left - Joan Hinderstein middle - Richard Proctor right - in Othello 1960.jpeg

Bert Hubbard (left), Joan Hinderstein (middle) and Richard Proctor (right) in 1960 in Bert Hubbard’s own choreography “Othello” after Giuseppe Verdi’s opera

File:Hubbard Bert 1 - IAAA festival 1996 - Camden New Jersey USA.jpg

Bert Hubbard at the IAAA festival 1996 in Orlando, Florida (USA) in his swim costume to his own choreography Juxtaposed

Sportive career 1946-1954

Hubbard started synchronized swimming shortly after it was introduced in his birth town Detroit in 1946 by swimmers from Chicago. In 1949 he won the first Men's AAU Synchronised Swimming competition in the duet St.Louis Blues March with Lee Embrey. As male soloist he became the US Junior National Champion in 1954 with A Viking's Prayer Before Battle.

1955-present: Aquatic Artist, choreographer and historian

With the introduction of the International Academy of Aquatic Art (IAAA) in 1955 men were welcomed in synchronized swimming events, and Hubbard created and performed as aquatic artist until 2009 in various compositions, especially solos, at many IAAA festivals throughout North America. In 1960 he choreographed two mixed trios Othello after Verdi's Otello and A Medieval Morality that were the first to receive top honors from IAAA in that category. At that festival he presented the first male solo A World of Silence to be awarded First Class Honors from the IAAA. As the historian of the IAAA he documents the organization's history and artistic activities, and shares such information in IAAA's newsletter The Aquatic Artist.

Further reading

• Robert E. Kerper: Splash - Aquatic Shows from A to Z (published by Michael Zielinsky, 2002)
• Beulah Gundling: Exploring Aquatic Art, International Academy of Aquatic Art, 1963.
• Beulah Gundling: Dancing in the Water, International Academy of Aquatic Art, 1976.
• Dawn Pawson Bean: Synchronized swimming - An American history. McFarland Company Inc. Publishers, Jefferson (North Carolina, USA), 2005.
• Johanna Beisteiner: Art music in figure skating, synchronized swimming and rhythmic gymnastics/Kunstmusik in Eiskunstlauf, Synchronschwimmen und rhythmischer Gymnastik. PhD thesis, Vienna 2005, (German). Contains information about Bert Hubbard and the IAAA (Chapter I/2: History of synchronized swimming, pages 40–55).

External links

• Official website of the International Academy of Aquatic Art, contains information about Bert Hubbard
• Official ISHOF website (International Swimming Hall of Fame) with information about the activities of the International Academy of Aquatic Art
• 2005 Who’s Who in Aquatic Leadership in the United States, Official Website of the United States Water Fitness Association, contains information about Bert Hubbard.