Red-Light Cameras Not So Special?
Cubs Combat Casino
PHOTOS: Peaches And Amanda Blank At Metro
County Sales Tax Rollback Vetoed - Here We Go Again
The Return of The Chicagoist Reader Meet-Up
The equine population of Chicago has tripled this summer, thanks to the horses performing in Cavalia in the West Loop.“It’s all about natural horsemanship and movement,” said performer Casey Hackett, 26. “We’re harnessing their energy into the performance, and the show changes every time.”
“It’s hard to know how the horses are going to react,” she said. “You have to really try to understand the dynamics between yourself and the horses and the audience. It was hard for me to realize how big the little things really are to them.”
Hackett, who trained first as a gymnast and has a degree in dance, said she never worked with horses before auditioning for the Canadian show. “They were looking, I think, for someone who had dance training who would be willing to work on the bungees,” she said. “I said yes, and then I ended up with four months in California, training.”
“My background is break and modern dance,” she said. “The sand floor [of the arena] forces you to be grounded, and makes it harder to pirouette. You really have to dig in.” But, she said, the surface gives her more possibilities.
“You can really throw your floor [routine] around, while you’re speaking to the horse with your body language,” Hackett said. “With the horses, it’s a very different experience, and you have to practice until it’s second nature. The relationship is empathetic.” Hackett’s horse-oriented performance is mostly a floor routine, driven by her partner, a 9-year-old white stallion who is free to move around the stage the whole show. “You have to be quiet, calm, confident,” she said. “It’s a state that allows you to work together.”
She spends the rest of her time on stage dangling from rope bungees on the ceiling, spinning, twisting and turning in time to the live music.
The show arose after one of the partners in Cirque de Soleil brought a horse into a performance. “Normand [Latourelle] noticed that the audience stayed with the horse,” said Bradley Grill, press attaché for the show. “No matter where they looked and what was going on in the show, the audience watched the horse.”
And that is the case during Cavalia’s three hours. The acrobats seem almost superfluous as they whirl and cavort on the stage. The horses, on the other hand, are integral to the lavish production. And they know it.
“There’s one horse,” said Hackett, “He was supposed to go on vacation, and so they sent him to a ranch in California. He was mopey and he started losing weight. They tried everything. Finally, they gave up and sent him back to the show. He improved immediately, went back to performing once per week. I guess he just needed to feel like he had a purpose.”
Hackett said she has gotten the horse bug during the more than 2 years she’s spent on stage with the act, though she’d never worked with horses before. “I’ve found the passion,” she said. “I’m trying to understand the horse, his willingness to perform.”
On stage, Hackett said she changes the show daily, depending on how her routine is going, and her horse’s mood. “You have to balance the partnership, learn to share the space and adapt… because we’ve been doing this routine so long I have the freedom to improvise.” Everything, she said, is flexible in the performance.
“My horse is staging the ‘primary encounter,’” she said. “He’s setting the scene for the rest of the show.” Before he sets the scene, however, he’s backstage, being prepped for his performance. Each horse is given a bath, trimmed and polished to perfection before being cued to the show, waiting for his turn in the limelight.
“The consistency is important to them,” Hackett said. “The people behind the show, that team, is focused on creating a stable environment back stage, coordinating appropriately and letting the horses do their duty.” She said since the team has to be so sensitive to the environment, they’re much closer together than on other shows. “Since we’re acrobats and dancers and we’re always surrounded by the horses,” she said. “We’re all very sensitive to the environment around us.”
Hackett said that while she has no intention of leaving the show in the near future, she is keeping up her training in more traditional dance. “I’m taking classes next door [at Hubbard Street] while I’m here, in modern, ballet, and break dance,” she said. Taking classes in the city she’s working in, “helps to bring us out and connect with the world,” she said.
“Chicago’s been very open, dynamic,” Hackett said. “The people make the city -and there’s a lovely, open vibe and feeling here.”
**
Tickets for the show are available online here. There are no particularly bad seats in the house, though closer to front-and-center is better.
More photos archived here.
add to stumble upon
add to reddit
tweet this
post to facebook
where do they keep the horses in between shows?
Backstage. They never leave the lot.
dont horses need, y'know, land to roam around?
The people who produce and attend circuses or shows like this don't care about the animals.
And I don't care how "well" the owners claim to 'take care' of these animals. It's abuse. Horses were not meant to perform under tents and lights and shouting crowds. Same goes for elephants, tigers, lions and any other animal exploited for the benefit of their human owners.
By the same token, large dogs weren't meant to live in cramped city apartments with no yard and their only access to the outdoors coming at the end of a leash for the benefit of their human owners, but I've noticed animal rights folks have little problem with that.
...and Ingrid's bleeding heart explodes all over the comments again.
Clearly all of these people hate animals.
The horses used in this show are pretty well maintained - the stables area is meticulously kept, the horses are bathed, groomed and shod. They have their own vet. They get 10 days off to be horses at ranches every six weeks.
They are horses.
They should get to live life every day as horses....not just ten days every six weeks.
@ThisGuy...screw you. I'm no bleeding heart and my comments are not explosive. I've been around animals, including horses, my whole life and have learned how to respect all animals and just want them to live the way they were meant to live. And in this case that means not performing under bright lights and screaming crowds, being hauled from venue to venue in trucks.Ringling Bros would claim they treat their animals well too, but there are behind the scenes video of them abusing the animals with hooks and electric prods. But yeah...I'm a bleeding heart because I don't like to see animals being hooked and electrocuted. Whatever you say. And I'm not saying these horses are being treated the way Ringling Bros. treats their animals...but I know plenty of people who own horses who find this kind of show abhorrent and would never attend.
I doubt the crowd at Cavalia would ever work its way up to screaming. The occasional gasp of delight, perhaps.
However, I understand your concern for animals who perform in shows. A lot of unscrupulous performers and trainers have ruined the public's trust.
So what the horses are being abused! Over weight families from Schaumburg love this exotic show almost as much as the Blue Man group and the air and water show