The Big White Tent on the Central Harbourfront is hard to miss, it’s home to Cavalia a touring ‘homage to the century-old bond between human and horse’ as Cavalia founder Normand Latourelle describes the show.
At it’s most basic Cavalia is acrobats and horses – a Cirque du Soleil with four legged extras if you will. There’s some good trick riding, but as with the acrobatics nothing ground breaking, it’s all stuff that’s highly visual and can be repeated night after night.
Where Cavalia shines is it’s equine stars. We just don’t see horses in Hong Kong, and certainly not up-close and personal. Watching them on TV, even in HD, the raw beauty and power can be seen but not experienced or felt. In ‘casting’ a range of different breeds, we the audience can compare and enjoy the attributes and personalities of the horse, their personalities and traits. From the stately to the wild majestic Arabians and all points in-between.
As Latourelle explained afterwards “The Arabians are a herd, they’re not ridden, I want to keep them a bit wild.”
The hour long media preview was a selection of ‘scenes’ from the full show. There’s nothing new or unique about the individual pieces of the show (television has made the difficult seem common place) combined it was fun and enjoyable. The horses are the stars, the Arabians the headliners. A reminder of natures beauty and worth the price of admission alone.
Cavalia
When: 31 March – 10 May, 2015
Where: Central Harbourfront
How much: $1,995, $1,495, $1,195, $895, $695, $545, $395