Cavalia is a company based in
Montreal,
Quebec,
Canada that presents large-scale equestrian productions involving
trick riding,
vaulting,
haute école and
pas de deux, unbridled displays, and
Cirque du Soleil-like performances.
Cavalia was created and directed by Normand Latourelle, one of the original founders of Cirque du Soleil. The musical score was composed by Michel Cusson.
The tour uses 64 horses, all of them either
stallions or
geldings. Thirteen horses are
Lusitanos (and brothers or half-brothers), and the remainder are
Canadian Horses,
American Quarter Horses,
Paint horses,
Belgians,
Percherons,
Arabians, and a young
Appaloosa colt. About half of the horses were brought from southern
France and the rest are from the
United States.
The show is performed in the largest tent in
North America, a 2440 m² (26,300 ft²) big top, and takes 40 people 12 days to erect and 7 days to dismantle. The stable adds on another 1070 m² (11,500 ft²), and it takes 45 trucks to move the whole show. The 46m (150 ft) wide stage takes 1500 tons of sand to complete.
The horses are only asked to practice one hour each day, and get two hours each day for play. They only perform for 5–10 minutes per show, 7-8 times each week, and the horses are trained to understudy for each other so different horses can be given the day off.
In May 2009,
Government of Canada provided Cavalia with a $4-million loan to Cavalia Inc. to develop new productions and construct a horse-training facility in
Sutton, Quebec.
[1]
The equine stars
The stars of the show are the horses, about half stallions and half geldings (there are no
mares). These horses eat 40 bales of hay per day, and consume 900 kg (1980 lb) of grain and 20 kg (44 lb) of carrots each week. Many of the horses have their mane braided when not performing, and Templado's knee-length mane takes 90 minutes to complete.
- Aétès: White stallion, Spanish-Frison
- Amigo: Black gelding, Paint
- Aramis: Black foal, Arabian
- Arete: Grey gelding, Percheron
- Bandit: Dark bay gelding Quarter Horse
- Bandolero: Albino stallion, Lusitano
- Ben: Dark sorrel gelding, Quarter Horse
- Buddy: Blonde sorrel gelding, Belgian
- Bungee: Buckskin gelding, Quarter Horse
- Choice: Dark bay gelding, Quarter Horse
- Chucaro: White stallion, Lusitano
- Coffee: Black gelding, Percheron
- Comet: Blonde sorrel gelding, Belgian
- Dao: White stallion, Lusitano
- Eddy: Brown bay gelding, Quarter Horse
- Edros: White stallion, Lusitano
- Famoso: White stallion, Lusitano
- Fasto: White stallion, Lusitano
- Gracil: Buckskin stallion, Lusitano
- Guizo: Black stallion, Lusitano
- Hades: White stallion, Lusitano
- Hollywood: Sorrel gelding, Quarter Horse
- Iman: White stallion, Lusitano
- Joe: Sorrel gelding, Quarter Horse
- Kiwi: Dark Bay gelding, Quarter Horse
- Lorenzo: Dark bay gelding, Warmblood
- Mandarin: Buckskin stallion, Lusitano
- Penultimo: White gelding, Spanish
- Pompon: Blonde sorrel foal, Quarter Horse
- Popeye: Bay stallion, Quarter Horse
- T-Bar: Dark Bay stallion, Quarter Horse
- Templado: White stallion, Lusitano
- Toby: Sorrel gelding, Quarter Horse
- Zazabelou: Buckskin stallion, Lusitano
- Zorro: Black gelding, Quarter Horse
The human stars
The show also features over 20 human stars from Canada, and also from France,
Kyrgyzstan, United States,
Mexico, and
Morocco.
- Mohamed Achoune: Acrobatics, tumbling, dancing, Chinese pole
- Christine Bédard: Russian bar
- Estelle Delgado: Dressage, trick riding, Roman riding
- Magali Delgado: Equestrian Co-Director, trainer, dressage
- Anne De Lottinville: Aerial acrobatics, dancing, bungee, vertical rope
- Marco Dieckmann: Russian bar
- Caleb Carinci-Asch: Trick riding, acrobatics
- Yves Gagnon: Russian bar
- Samuel Hafrad: Trick riding, dancing
- Rachel Jacobs: Dancing, bungee, vertical rope
- Dosbergen Kozugulov: Trick riding, dancing
- Marianella Michaud: Bareback riding, pieds percussion, libertad, trick riding
- Marie-Élaine Mongeau: Hand to hand, dancing, bungee, acrobatics
- Faiçal Moulid: Acrobatics, tumbling, dancing, trampoline
- Majolie Nadeau: Acrobatics, bungee, trampoline, vertical rope
- Maxime Panteleenko: Straps
- Landon Pearson: Trick riding, lasso
- Alexandre Philippe: Trick riding
- Frédéric Pignon: Equestrian Co-Director, trainer, liberty, dressage
- Mathieu Pignon: Trick riding
- Renny Spencer; Trick riding, lasso
- Enrique Suarez: Vaulting, Roman riding, dressage, trick riding
- Cédrik Texier: Jumping, dressage
- Philippe Tezenas: Trick riding, Roman riding, acrobatics
References
- ^ "Cavalia gets a $4-million jump on new production". Montreal Gazette (Canwest). 2009-05-26. http://www.montrealgazette.com/Cavalia+gets+million+jump+production/1631924/story.html. Retrieved 2009-05-26.
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