Lee-Ann Tait Bee was looking forward to a backstage tour of Cavalia’s Odysseo Wednesday afternoon so much that she couldn’t sleep the night before.
“I woke up at six this morning because I was so excited,” the 11-year-old told the Courier Wednesday afternoon just prior to the tour. “And yesterday I woke up at 2 [a.m.].”
Lee-Ann was one of a group of blind and visually impaired children and youth invited to experience the feels, sounds and smells of the popular show during a hands-on sensory tour of Odysseo, which features a cast of 67 horses.
Lee-Ann, who’s been riding horses for eight years, brought her riding helmet to the event.”
“It’s ironic because I was born in the year of the horse,” she told the Courier.
Cavalia worked with the Canadian National Institute for the Blind to organize the event for the children, who were thrilled at the opportunity to pet and feed the horses.
During the tour, one young boy stood directly under the massive head of a horse and laughed with glee as the gentle giant snorted and blew onto his head.
The young cast from Odysseo was just as smitten with the children as they led many of them by the hand to offer a piece of apple or carrot to “Pompom,” who happily reached out to each child in search of more treats.
Cast members helped kids to sit atop several saddles set up for the occasion and there were opportunities for the children to feel reins and harnesses, handle horseshoes and play percussion instruments with some of the cast’s musicians.
Particularly delighted with this opportunity was seven-year-old Alethea Moroney, who told the Courier she plays drums, the piano and recorder. She plays drums in a band called the Drop with her dad who plays guitar.
Initially, one of the cast members held Altethea’s hands as she played a large drum, but at her mom’s urging soon let them go. The tiny girl perfectly repeated the rhythm of the drumbeat she’d heard just moments before.
“The drumming was my favourite part,” Alethea told the Courier.
The highlight of the visit was when the children were gathered into the middle of a practice ring within the large False Creek set and a group of horses and riders began circling them.
The horses started at a walk but soon transitioned to a full gallop of 50-kilometres an hour, shaking the ground beneath the children’s feet.
A group photo with the children, horses and riders capped off the afternoon.
Matinee and evening performances of Odysseo continue now through Jan. 26. For more information visit cavalia.net/en/odysseo.
