"Cavalia II" Magical Tribute to Horses by Cirque Creator

Cavalia II is a stunning new show, that opened in San Francisco USA on Tuesday night, which celebrates Cirque du Soleil style, the nature and spirit of horses and their relationships with humans throughout history.



Cavalia II’s creator Normand Latourelle should be in high spirits after the opening night in San Francisco. Latourelle must be a keen observer as he put together a group greater than the sum of it’s parts, the culmination of his life's work.

The Cavalia II parts would be a cast of 100 including fifty of the most stunning horses on Earth of various origins, 50 talents including musicians, aerial acrobats, gymnasts, riders, riggers, horse trainers, visual artists, choreographers for dancers and for horses, a sound designer, grooms, logistics people and others. For a couple of hours that fly by especially for the many horse lovers in the audience, one feels entranced, mesmerized, excited, thrilled, amused, touched, renewed, inspired.

The prologue and epilogue includes two rescued Mustang foals recently adopted. Roucao and Rocky, a bay and a chestnut. Inside the stables after the show, I put my face up to the stall they share and one put his baby muzzle through the bars and wiggled his lips for a treat (or a kiss?).

An historic show
The show opened with quite a surprise as Latourelle began his story of the evolution of the love affair between horses and man. Inside the enormous white big top, he stretches original video from one end of the huge stage to the other. He begins with a pastoral setting and a mare with her muzzle to the tall green grass. She’s not nibbling however, she’s searching for just the right spot to give birth. And she does.
The arena, following the birth theme with childrens’ toy horses from models to little rocking horses, comes to life. The musicians and talents emerge to pick up the toys and embrace them. Child’s play gives birth to reality as real horses run freely, manes and tails flying and heels kicking up. And so we are off. Meanwhile thoughtful quotations pop up in graphics, from such diverse sources as the Bible’s Apocalypse, an Arabian proverb, Shakespeare, noting the horse’s stature through the centuries.

Sylvia and Fairland
This show probably has no one star. However. If trainer Sylvia Zerbini demonstrates unbridled spirit and gentleness and celebrates natural horseplay, then all-American Fairland Fergusson tears up the turf as she races Roman style (standing on horseback) on pairs of two, four and ultimately six running horses. Sylvia told me she is American actually but goes back to France regularly where her French parents live. She can speak English American style and you would never know she is French. Her parents were horse trainers, she said.

Fairland seemed quite animated and kept the circle of journalists engaged and laughing on Tuesday afternoon, saying at one point something personal about herself that may have been too much information. Her words, not mine. She said she’s from the South and performed with Dolly Parton’s show. One thing Fairland loves on the road is to find the nice restaurant chain called Chick-fil-A and she’s spotted one 80 miles north of San Francisco so on her day off, she has her destination. She also lit up about seeing Alacatraz during her first visit to San Francisco as she loved the Clint Eastwood movie. I nodded yes.
Fairland’s boyfriend finally joined Cavalia. He was with her at Dolly Parton’s but they were separated for a year until he got a job from Latourelle. His name is Chad.

I ran into Fairland again in the stables after the opening show and my friend Pam Sadler took a picture of Fairland and I. She and I had arms around each other and I looked into the camera and said, “Say Chick-fil-A!” and we got quite a shot of Fairland’s surprised expression. Most people just say, congratulations, great show, right?

The myriad of acts
The other acts show everything from ethereal beauty and tenderness to rough riding slapstick western comedy.
The show starts with The Discovery or La Decouverte, an Indian woman who could be in Canada or America and a white wild horse played by Orion.

A young woman wielding a lasso delighted the audience with her fast flicks of the wrist and quick steps.

Cavalcade then the Ball then Sylvia Zerbini with Liberte’ Play and her Spanish horse Zjan with a black flowing mane so long she has to tie it up in a knot so he doesn’t step on it between performances.
Bareback riding follows in a small traditional ring with draft horses Miracle and Renato.

La Vida brings the most Cirque du Soleil style at this point, with ethereal duets between princely men riding Edros and Famoso with fairytale princesses flying above them on bungees.

Le Miroir follows the ethereal, fairytale style with Renaissance princesses in white flowing gowns, mirroring each other in a dressage performance. It’s matching white horses Pirata and Zatcho and a video projection of ancient stone walls with horse carvings.

Roman Riding completes the first half with a bang, full of whooping and hollering and mugging at the audience as the racers fly around the ring. Yes, they see us. The Roman riders performed before a visually projected ancient stone arena.

The second half opens with Pieds Percussion, a composite act with many dancers and riders including a high-stepping bay.

Libertad has aerial artists on straps, Cirque style; and runners against the ever-changing colors on the screen.

Carrousel sounds like a stately and elegant march with seven matching white horses, the riders in flowing robes with their long dark hair pulled back.

Haute Ecole features a changing forest backdrop and women in sexy leather bustier dresses with flowing skirts.

Grande Liberte’ is just Sylvia Zerbini alone with her nine Arabians, four geldings and four stallions with one fifteen year old. She brings out their natural behavior as social animals whether they are frolicking and engaging in horse play and racing all around her, or closing in for a little muzzle nuzzle. She brings out their naturally comic antics as well as their other inclinations. There’s no whip, just high and low tones from Sylvia as horses use in different situations, a few flicks of the soft silicon sand on the arena floor, a light touch of her hand to their chin or neck or chest. She’s hypnotizing as the horses go round and round her.
Trick riding includes riders, the Russian Bar you see in Cirque shows, bungees and acrobats.

Live musicians
The cellist Anne-Louise Gilbert and gypsy singer Mary-Pier Guilbault emerge for Bungee cavaliers. The musicians often remained shrouded dreamily behind a gauzy screen or behind the videos completely. They played with dexterity the entire evening moving effortlessly from style to style.

The talent backstage
Erick Villeneuve is the visual designer, Marc Labelle the scenic artist, Michel Cusson the composer. Manon Desmarais and Mireille Vachon designed the costumes.

Benjamin Aillaud, Frederic Pignon and Magali Delgado equestrian choreographers with Benjamin directing; Alain Gautheir artistic coordinator and choreographer.

Then there’s the finale with the entire cast emerging plus a quick tribute to the Giants winning the World Series. I wonder if they do that in Texas.

Fun facts
The horses annually consume 17,500 bales of hay, 36,500 pounds of grain and 1,750 pounds of carrots. The horses do not particularly care to ride in their trailers, they never know how long the ride will be.

Normand Latourelle says he is working on Cavalia III in Montreal.

Story by: Cindy Warner www.examiner.com