Cavalia's Big Top Offers Magical Performances

Every five years, Cavalia comes to Burbank and the buzz across the equestrian community is almost deafening. 

You can hardly go to any of the regular horseman’s haunts in Chatsworth without hearing someone say, “Have you been to Cavalia? It was fantastic!” or “It was the best horse show I’ve ever seen.  You have to see it!” 

Whenever I ask someone what Cavalia is, they tell me that they can’t describe it in words.  That’s it’s “magical” or “so amazing, I just can’t describe it.”    Well, for about $150 for an average ticket, I need a bit more convincing than that. 

Finally, a friend convinced me that we should go to the show and bring my 11- year-old daughter, Ryle.  She used the argument that it is a great cultural experience for kids.

Not wanting to deprive Ryle of her cultural development, I promptly got online and purchased the tickets.  There were several options available ranging from a complete package that included dinner, a tour of the stables, and prime seating for the show to some nice high rise accommodations in the nose bleed section with a partially obstructed view.  The prices ranged from $49 to $239 depending on the day of the week and seating location selected.

Since I wasn’t sure what to expect, I bit the bullet and purchased the Orange tier seating for $139 per ticket for a Sunday matinee.  Our seats were in the fourth row, and very far to the right of the stage.  The seats were great.

So how was the show?  Amazing, of course!  Seriously, as an avid horseperson, most horse exhibitions hold little magic for me.  I’m jaded.  I’ve seen every trick in the book and most of the time, I cringe at the sight of poor animals put on public display like ornaments or objects to be used and abused, while an ignorant crowd whooshes with “ooohhh” and “ahhhhh” at the lame stunts which most of us find fairly unimaginative.

Let me tell you, Cavalia is not that type of show. 

While watching the show, I had an instant appreciation for the time and diligence that has been invested in the horses who take the stage.  Cavalia’s website touts that “the equestrian arts are infused with unprecedented magic and emotion.”  There is no magic, just discipline.  And the end result is a show that will move the most cynical of horsepeople, including yours truly.

The true magic of Cavalia is in the imagination of its Artistic Director, Normand Latourelle.  Latourelle helped build the famed Cirque Du Soleil and has used inspiration from Le Cirque’s acrobatic and multimedia performances to create an experience that takes the audience into another world. 

Through the use of stunning imagery and otherworldly music performed live, the audience is transported to a world where horses and humans communicate and work together seamlessly. 

The handlers perform with the horses on the ground, using subtle cues to help the horses through their routines.  At one point of the show, the handler has eight stallions in the ring with her.  She gets them all moving in the same direction, raises her arms, the horses halt, then spin on their haunches in a 360, and then switch direction in unison, in perfect time.  She then asks four horses to leave the ring, while she keeps the other four in motion going clockwise around her.  The four horses who have left the circle run across the back of the stage and then rejoin the circle going counterclockwise.  All the while, the music is crescendoing and suddenly, autumn leaves fall from the virtual sky under the big top.

Of course, no horse performance would be complete without some good old fashioned roman riding and Cavalia does not aim to disappoint.  Add to this a series of heart-stopping vaulting maneuvers and the result is an audience that is on the edge of their seats.

After the show, we were treated to a trip down to the stables.  The cost was $25.00 for each of us and even though I knew I was coming home to 30 horses in my own backyard, the cost of admission was worth it to rub elbows and ask questions of Cavalia’s human performers. 

The horses were all stallions and geldings, 49 in all, and ran the gamut from 8-month-old mustangs from Colorado weighing about 400 pounds to a 1,600-pound Comtoise, a breed originating from France.

I’m not going to tell you that Cavalia is amazing.  I’m not going to tell you that you have to see it.  What I will tell you is that I wished I’d spent the full $239 and purchased the best seat in the house for this show.  I couldn’t get enough and can’t wait until it returns five years from now in 2016.  Don’t wait to see Cavalia, it is in town until Feb. 20.