Spinning tunes from a studio is par for the course for Dutch DJ Oliver Heldens. Spinning tunes from a studio 40 meters/130 feet below the surface of the ocean? That’s something else entirely.
But that is exactly what Heldens plans to do this coming October. And to top it off, he plans on freediving down to the studio.
The whole event — conducted in partnership with the Mission Live Foundation — is to raise awareness of the huge amounts of plastic threatening the world’s oceans.
Heldens says:
“I am very shocked by the scope of it (the severe amounts of plastic in the oceans), and I therefore would like to help to make this issue publicly known.”
To achieve the needed depth, Heldens is training with Dutch freediver Nanja van den Broek, the Variable Weight (VWT) world record holder (130 meters/426 feet deep).
Van den Broek says:
“It’s amazing to see how Oliver experiences the training and the way he commits himself wholly to this cause. He is doing very well, and I am, like everyone, very curious what depth he will reach in October.”

At the bottom of his dive (about 40 meters/130 feet deep), Oliver will enter an underwater studio to stage the “Dance from the Deep,” a unique underwater dance event to raise awareness of the world’s oceans.
The event will take place mid-October, during the Amsterdam Dance Event, and will be streamed online to a worldwide audience.
“Mission Live Ocean” is an initiative of the Mission Live Foundation to raise awareness of the “plastic soup” clogging the world’s oceans and endangering marine life. For more info, check out the foundation’s website at missionliveocean.org.