Review - Odysseo - Cavalia, Toronto

✭✭✭✭✩

by Normand Latourelle, directed by Wayne Fowkes

Cavalia, Big White Top at Lakeshore and Cherry, Toronto

May 15-September 9, 2012;

April 8-May 31, 2015;

Big White Top next to Hershey Centre, Mississauga

June 21-July 16, 2017

“A Celebration of Equine Beauty”

If you loved Cavalia, you’ll love Odysseo even more. The reason why is that there is simply more of everything in Odysseo. The world’s largest touring big top, the world’s largest stage and more horses (69 instead of 50). Whereas Cavalia climaxed with the feats of one horse whisperer Frédéric Pignon and his horses, Odysseo has eight, each with a set of four horses, and they appear several times throughout the show. Where Cavalia had a sense of intimacy, Odysseo emphasizes spectacle but still retains the beauty that made Cavalia so magical.

Whereas Cavalia told the general story of the interaction of horses and humans over history, Odysseo dispenses with plot and shows encounters between men and horses in different settings across the globe. The 27,000-square foot stage has the same basic set-up as in Cavalia with a stage-length track from the stage left entrance to the stage right entrance so that the horses can gallop at speed from one to the other. It also has a generally circular stage that merges with this track. What is different is that beyond this circular section is an another squarish stage with rounded corners that rises upwards to form a hillside three-storeys high. This adds a dimension of height and naturalism lacking in Cavalia that fits in perfectly with the projected images of the Mongolian steppes to Monument Valley to the African savannah to Nordic glaciers, the Sahara and, rather incongruously, Easter Island.

The show begins with a magical scene to be repeated several more times. Ten horses enter the stage and run around the flat circular portion seemingly without any human intervention. Merely to seem the horses running in a herd without a human in sight is beauty enough. Soon horse whisperers appear and send their groups out for a run after which they return to surround them. To make a transition to man dominating horses, six women enter in a display of roman riding – that is one person with two horses, one foot on each horse – creating several complex patterns on the circular stage.

At this point the main troupe of eleven human acrobats arrive, all from Guinea, doing a series of handsprings at phenomenal speed including flips, half and full twists. Cavalia had various difficulties in integrating human acrobatics with equestrian stunts, but these gymnasts provide a key breakthrough. The extended, beautifully choreographed scene they introduce, called “Fête de village”, celebrates the jumping abilities of both man and horse. When the acrobats are not tumbling, they help hold the bars for the horses who jump steeplechase style or for the humans who tumble over. The one disappointment is that director Wayne Fowkes has included four men wearing powerbocks (spring-loaded jumping silts). While their acrobatic feats are amazing, the springs enhancing the height and distance they can achieve, the devices seem out of place when men and humans had been competing without special aids on equal ground. The powerbockers unbalance the scene by their ability to jump higher and father than either the men or horses.

After a transitional, the back stage rises as a hill and in a wonderfully dramatic scene we see group after group of mounted riders appear on its crest. The sixteen riders then proceed to execute an exquisitely beautiful “haute école” Lipizzaner routine with many intricate interlocking passing patterns.

No display of human activity can top such a display of equestrian excellence, and the following scene entitled “Carusello” does not. The most spectacular aspect of the scene is the descent of a full-sized carousel from a spot hidden in the rooftop down to the stage. The carousel tries to preserve the equine theme with carved white horses on its nine poles, but the last thing we want to see after viewing the beauty of real horses are the paltry imitations. The point of the scenes is to have twelve acrobats perform various Chinese pole routines on the carousel poles which not only move up and down but rotate. This is most impressive when several of the men do “the flag” (holding themselves horizontally away from the pole) simultaneously.

The first act concludes with an exhibition of western trick riding with horses galloping straight across the front of the stage as the riders execute a vast array of tricks including fender drags, Stroud layouts, jumps on and off, shoulder and side stands and spin the horn.

Act 1 ends so well that it’s difficult to see how Act 2 can top it. And it doesn’t. Most of the act is composed of repeats from Act 1 in different formats. The act begins with the eight horse whisperers urging their groups of four horses to form various patterns on the stage. How they can communicate their commands simply through small gestures of face and hands is amazing. The aerial hoops that follow are all very well with thirteen acrobats on nine hoops. You tend to focus on the couple in the central hoop, but in general it’s clear that this acts exists to provide a breather for the riders and the horses. The same is true of the return of the Guinean acrobats who attempt to involve the audience in call and response.

Finally a scene arrives that corresponds the to the climax of Cavalia, where a single horse whisperer demonstrates his art. On opening night the horse was cooperative about posing with its front hooves on the front barrier and sitting down, but its balked for the longest time at lying down until the whisperer had to cease whispering and touch the back of its legs with a stick. I have no problem with that. It merely shows the horses are real animals, not playthings.

The following act “Yhi et Pégase” is an extension of the lovely scene with riders and accompanying women on aerial silks. Cavalia has only two of each. Odysseo has four and with four the riders can create far more interesting patterns as they hold onto the silks while the women suspend themselves above.

A circus ring descends from the roof to the stage for the next section featuring “Cossack riding”. Since western “trick riding” actually descends from “Cossack riding”, when Cossacks after the advent of Communism moved to America and showed off their skills at rodeos, most of the tricks are ones we saw earlier at the end of Act 1. A few are new like the two-foot drag and an incredible stunt where the rider climbs under and around the belly of the galloping horse to return to the saddle. The advantage of the circus ring set-up is that we can see both sides of the horse for the side stands hidden by the horse in Act 1.

The leadoff for the show’s ending is a lovely vista of Elise Verdoncq on Omerio silhouetted again a projection of a raging waterfall while she coaxes fancy “haute école” footwork from her horse. The flat circular stage is flooded and the finale masterfully mixes horses running seemingly at liberty with a group of riders and horse executing “haute école” moves – a wonderful contrast of freedom and extreme discipline. Naturally, showing off “haute école” moves in water doesn’t quite make sense since the footwork is hidden. On the other hand, is it a pure delight to see the horses at liberty gallop through the water sending the waves flying.

Odysseo outdoes Cavalia in terms of the breadth of its spectacle. Again the use of human acrobats does not quite work, with the notable exception of the Guinean troupe whose ground-based feats of prowess show the height of what humans can do without the aid of any equipment but their bodies. The horses, of course, are magnificent and the show celebrates their beauty whether at liberty, under the mysterious influence of horse whisperers or under the strict guidance of Spanish Riding School techniques. Odysseo is a show no lover of horses or spectacle should miss.

©Christopher Hoile

Tour stops completed after Toronto, ON:

• Opryland, Briley Parkway at Exit 12, Nashville, TN

August 30-October 15, 2017;

• Ventura County, Camarillo, CA

November 11, 2017-January 28, 2018;

• White Big Top, Red Mountain 202 at N. McClintock Dr., Scottsdale, AZ

February 21-April 22, 2018;

• White Big Top, Sterling Lyon Pkwy and Kenaston Blvd., Winnipeg, MB

May 12, 2018-June 10, 2018

• Jacques Cartier Bridge, Quais de Lorimer, Montréal, QC

July 25-October 14, 2018

Note: This review is a Stage Door exclusive.

For tickets, visit https://cavalia.com.

2012-05-16

Odysseo