Seen In Calgary #29: Odysseo by Cavalia at Canada Olympic Park

Odysseo by Cavalia | Canada Olympic Park | Tickets at Cavalia.net

[twitter]Odysseo by Cavalia is familiar and amazingly unique at the same time. We are used to Cirque du Soleil shows, they dominate the Las Vegas Strip and are consistently touring the world. We are used to acrobats, ethereal music, and elegant flowing costumes.

We are not used to that routine with horses. Running free. On a huge stage.

Odysseo is the latest show from Cavalia and it takes all of those familiar elements of the modern “circus” experience and remixes them into something poetic, elegant, graceful, energetic, and dramatic.

Odysseo reviews across the continent are raving, and they are singing praises in Calgary as well.

“Odysseo is a multi-media feast for the senses!”
Stephen Hunt, Calgary Herald

“Staggers even the wildest imagination. Beyond anything you’ve ever seen or imagined.”
Louis Hobson, Calgary Sun

“Odysseo is stunning! The most magical and enchanting show I’ve ever seen!”
Jill Belland, Breakfast Television CITY TV

The show is filled with raucous tumblers, aerial ballet dancers, and daredevil trapeze artists. And horses. 70 of them.

Sometimes they roll in the dirt. Sometimes they prance or play. Other times they are galloping freely on the stage. Sometimes they are herded with merely a whisper and waved hand to perform choreography. Sometimes they charge across the stage with screaming side saddle riders.

I loved the music of Cavalia. It reminded me of the first time I heard Querer from Mystere. I didn’t understand the language or lyrics, but I loved it. The music of Odysseo is sung in Italian by Claudia Paganelli and the songs are all performed live during the show (perfect in case one of the free horses decides to improvises).

The romantic soundtrack blends seamlessly with a stunningly simple, yet intricate, set, perfect visuals, and magical lighting that will take you across plains, canyons, rainforests, and deserts.

Interesting facts about Odysseo by Cavalia

1. The show’s finale features a swimming hole created by pumping 380,000 litres of water onto the stage in a minute and a half and features 50 horses running freely in the water.

2. The White Big Top is 38 metres high, and sprawls across an area the size of two NFL-sized football fields — around 9,910 square meters. To set it up requires 200 employees, including 100 Calgarians and 50 fly-ins, who returned to North America after helping move Cavalia from Dubai to Brussels. The $1 million White Big Top is twice as large as the tent used for Cavalia in 2011. It was created by adding three arches, which allows audiences an unobstructed view from the top row of the Big White Top to the bottom.

3. The show includes a 13-metre high mountain made of 10,000 tonnes of dirt and polyester blend. The mountain was inspired by the view outside show creator Normand Latourelle’s kitchen window on his farm in Quebec.

4. To transport the show requires 110 semi-trucks. Initially, the show took six weeks to break down and move from one city to the next, but when his bankers balked and his CFO quit, producer and show creator Normand Latourelle promised the bank that he would find a way to reduce the moving time from six weeks to 17 days. He did it.

5. To move the show from Washington D.C., to Seattle, Latourelle rented a 747 to ship the horses across the continent, rather than transporting them by truck.