Cavalia's Odysseo still dazzles with larger-than-life audacity

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      Created with artistic direction by Normand Latourelle. Directed and choreographed by Wayne Fowkes. Music composed by Michel Cusson. A Cavalia production. Under the Big Top at Olympic Village on Tuesday, January 31. Continues until March 5

      Audacity is the star of Odysseo, a show that fully lives up to its claims of being unlike anything you’ve ever seen before.

      The numbers tell the story: 65 horses, 48 human performers, a crew of dozens more, 10,000 tons of rock, earth, and sand for the set, housed in an enormous tent. The whole thing really is larger than life. With virtually no narrative, Odysseo asks its audience to do nothing but sit back and be dazzled.

      And man, does it dazzle, with the beauty and power of bodies both equine and human set against massive CGI backdrops that take us from one jaw-dropping landscape to another: the savannah, the plains, even Stonehenge. The imagery is cinematic and otherworldly throughout.

      Some highlights: in a piece called “The Faeries”, white-gowned women stand astride two horses each as they parade around the stage. In “Liberty”, Elise Verdoncq singlehandedly guides nine purebred Arabians through an elaborate choreography without reins; later in the show, she performs an unforgettable dance on a single horse.

      Horses and humans, some wearing bouncing stilts, compete in a bar-jumping sequence, and stunt riders perform death-defying feats at a full gallop. There’s a stunning segment in which four riders canter in a circle, each holding one strand of the silk on which an aerial performer is suspended. The horses don’t entirely upstage the humans, though: a troupe of Guinean acrobats impresses not only with its high-speed tumbling, but with a song that’s an impassioned plea for peace.

      Michel Cusson’s earthy and evocative music is performed live, and singer Valentina Spreca’s occasional vocals add a gorgeous sensuality.

      This is the last time Odysseo will be in Vancouver, and its run has already been extended twice. If you love horses, if you love spectacle, or if you just want to be blown away, be sure to catch it.

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