Pristine snow-white peaks have appeared in Vancouver this winter, and I don't just mean the north shore. Down by the Burrard inlet at Olympic Village, 125 ft tall fairytale tents have landed, and within is a lavish expression of joie de vivre. Odysseo, Cavalia's second production, uses the both horses and humans to express the beauty of physicality, where the movement of bodies and the sound of live music from on and around the stage trots on the line between heartfelt and eccentric just enough to make the production a whole lot of fun.
Photo by François Bergeron
I love the indulgent excess of large theatre shows. Ask me if I'm down to go watch some horses and acrobats perform to a live band in a giant heated tent in the middle of December while sipping wine and the answer will be "yes I am absolutely going to do that" without a moment's hesitation. Horses, acrobats, music, and optical illusions to play with your depth perception, the spectacle is two hours of exuberance peppered with moments of worrying if the nimble acrobats are may get trampled right in front of you as they throw themselves on and around a team of galloping horses.
The stage is set on the same level as the first row of audience, with just a knee-high ledge separating seats from the 47 performers and the 60 horses who grace the stage. A backdrop the size of three IMAX theatre screens inside a tent that spans over 47000 square ft transforms the dusty lot in the shadow of the Cambie bridge into captivating landscapes from one corner of the world to the other and beyond. The show travels from forest to rolling hillsides to American Southwest, to African savanna, and up to outer space. Yes, the horses and acrobats at one point are carried up off of the earth and into space by a floating carousel in a dreamy sequence where the performers suspended themselves from the poles of the carousel as effortlessly as if they were in zero gravity.
An equestrian I am not. If a horse moves into a canter with me on it I get a mild panic. Watching a lone trainer softly persuade a troupe of horses to seamlessly move into a windmill to a lineup and to other tightly knit formations was wickedly impressive witchcraft, even more so when two of the horses refused to leave when they were supposed to, proving themselves to be playful and occasionally defiant teammates rather than conquered beasts. (She eventually persuaded them to leave he stage, and it was adorable to watch them run around playing instead of following instructions.)
For Odysseo's finale, the stage is turned into a 80 000 gallon lake, purely so the horses can run majestically through it. As snarky as my first thought of this entire concept was, it was actually totally and thoroughly majestic, like all of your childhood bedtime stories that involve horses galloping through water while acrobats fling themselves on and around them.
Odysseo is a lovely show to get lost in.
Photo by François Bergeron
Odysseo will be in Vancouver until January 12th. You can purchase tickets here - use the code "LIBERTY" to get 10% off your ticket purchase.
