About AquaSkills · 88 Fulton Street, Manhattan
Swimming taught as sculpture
Lori Pailet is a fine artist with a background in modern dance and ballet. In 2004 she and Adrian Ginju started a swim school in New York, and she still teaches in it.
- 2004
- the year the school started
- 60 ft
- pool length, 15 ft wide
- 88°F
- water, all year round
Two swimming companions start a school
In 2004 Adrian Ginju met Lori Pailet. They became swimming companions, and one day they came up with the idea of starting a swim school. They named it AquaSkills.
The school has taught swimming ever since. Its pool is 60 feet long and 15 feet wide, heated to about 88°F all year, at 88 Fulton Street in Lower Manhattan. Lessons run by appointment, one hour each, and the rule the school states for its method is plain: the instructor goes in the water with you and teaches by demonstrating.
The lessons themselves are laid out on the adult swim lessons page and the children’s swim lessons page.
Lori PailetDirector of AquaSkills LLC
Director · AEA certified
Lori Pailet, who still teaches in the pool
Lori Pailet is the Director of AquaSkills LLC and actively conducts classes in New York City. She was born in New Orleans and spent most of her life in Greenwich Village and Los Angeles, where she attended the Rudolf Steiner School and the United Nations International School.
Art came first. She studied at the Maryland Institute College of Art, Hunter College and Pratt, earned a B.S. from SUNY, and worked as a fine artist, running a design company for more than 15 years. Movement came alongside it: a background in modern dance (Martha Graham), ballet (Robert Joffrey), and Hatha and Kundalini yoga.
She is certified by the Aquatic Exercise Association; the water workouts the school teaches are on the fitness and rehab swim page. Her own line on the work: water safety opens up water sports.
Adrian Ginju, where the method starts
Adrian Ginju was born in 1959 in a small village near Sibiu, Romania. He joined the village swim team at 5, trained at the 23rd August Olympic Camp, and qualified for the Romanian Olympic Swim Team.
His expertise and legacy are at the foundation of the AquaSkills method. He is based in Romania now, so he is the origin of the method and not an instructor in the Manhattan pool. Lessons at 88 Fulton Street are taught by Lori and the school’s instructors.
The philosophy
“One acquires discipline, coordination, balance and harmony while swimming. Moving in the water is like sculpting and dancing as well as a meditation.”
AquaSkills
In the pool
Four frames from the lessons
The tools are foam dumbbells, wetsuits and the pool wall. The instructor is in the water.
“After the 3rd class I was much more comfortable”
Matt Romero, published on aquaskills.com
Credentials and press, as the school lists them
- Lifeguard training
- All instructors are American Red Cross certified lifeguards, with CPR, AED and First Aid.
- Aquatic exercise
- Lori Pailet is AEA certified by the Aquatic Exercise Association.
- 2014
- Best of Manhattan Award, Swim School category, from the Manhattan Award Program, announced August 8, 2014.
- Coverage
- The New York Times:“First Strokes to Becoming an Aquaman!” by George Gene Gustines, and “A Liquid Fear” (2014)
- CBS News: segments with Alex Denis and Ann Mercogliano
- The Wall Street Journal:“Teaching Adults to Swim” by Sanette Tanaka
- Forbes:“A Kick Out of Summer” by Sonya Dutta Choudhury
- The Kathleen Dunn Show: Lori Pailet on overcoming adult fear of swimming
Listed on aquaskills.com; titles and bylines are printed as the school prints them. The work behind the Times and CBS pieces is on the overcoming fear of water page.
- Giving
- The school’s site links to two charities, Charity: Water and ChildFund.
Start with one hour in the pool
The intro class is a real class, $98 per person, and you are not obligated to join after it. Text Lori at (646) 724-7024, or read the fear of water program first.