'Cavalia' is a show with a lot of horsepower
Article by: ROHAN PRESTON , Star Tribune
September 16, 2011
The horse spectacular "Cavalia" will make its Minnesota debut this week.
Normand Latourelle was hard to distinguish from his workers laboring in the hot dust nearby to erect the world's largest touring tent.
In his black golf shirt and jeans, he did not look the part of mega-show impresario.
And when he spoke, it wasn't so much about the whiz-bang elements of "Cavalia," a multimedia extravaganza combining circus acrobatics and equestrian artistry that opens Wednesday in Minnesota for the first time. It required nearly 100 semitrailer trucks to transport the show to a field near Interstate 394 and Hwy. 100, where the 100-foot-high tent has taken shape.
Instead, the Canada-bred showman waxed poetic about the intertwined histories of horses and humans.
"For all its art and poetry, for all the spectacular feats, this show is a tribute to the 5,000-year relationship we've had with horses," he said. "Horses have been there for us as muscle and workforce, as weapons of war and as technology.
"Now the horse is mostly replaced by machines, but they're still there," he said. "We pay tribute to them whenever we say 'horsepower.'"
With that, Latourelle was off, galloping through a historical tour that touched on horse images drawn on French cave walls, Roman chariots and horses in imperial China. He spoke of horses in Spain and Portugal, Germany and North America, as symbols of projected power, as instruments of conquest.
"Horses are like dogs, in that they were bred for different purposes by people," he said. "Some could leap over things. Others pulled heavy loads. For the show, we picked the Lusitano for symbol because it is the most elegant, but we have many kinds in the show and we love them all."read more at:http://www.startribune.com/entertainment/stageandarts/129922243.html
Instead, the Canada-bred showman waxed poetic about the intertwined histories of horses and humans.
"For all its art and poetry, for all the spectacular feats, this show is a tribute to the 5,000-year relationship we've had with horses," he said. "Horses have been there for us as muscle and workforce, as weapons of war and as technology.
"Now the horse is mostly replaced by machines, but they're still there," he said. "We pay tribute to them whenever we say 'horsepower.'"
With that, Latourelle was off, galloping through a historical tour that touched on horse images drawn on French cave walls, Roman chariots and horses in imperial China. He spoke of horses in Spain and Portugal, Germany and North America, as symbols of projected power, as instruments of conquest.
"Horses are like dogs, in that they were bred for different purposes by people," he said. "Some could leap over things. Others pulled heavy loads. For the show, we picked the Lusitano for symbol because it is the most elegant, but we have many kinds in the show and we love them all."read more at:http://www.startribune.com/entertainment/stageandarts/129922243.html
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