“If you like horses, see this show. If you don’t like horses, see this show anyway.” That’s homage to the most memorable set of videogame instructions I’ve encountered: “If it moves, shoot it. If it doesn’t move, shoot it anyway,” which is also a phrase I feel will be making a repeat appearance in a future piece of writing of mine. Maybe I can work it into a grad school application essay, along with the gem, “Consider the lotus blossom… Okay now that’s enough, we don’t have time to sit around considering flowers all day, let’s get on with it.”

So we have this show, Cavalia. At first I thought it was put on by Cirque du Soleil, but it’s not, though a similar type of production. Not as polished, more freeform, less acrobatic. As with any kind of art the words I write here do little to communicate an actual experience but rather just describe my reaction to it, but that’s a given, and you knew that already. Suffice it to say that this show was very artistically done, a feast for the eyes, and very up-to-date technologically speaking. (We go through the seasons with fog machines, loads of confetti/cotton/leaves falling from the ceiling to simulate snow and, uh, leaves, and images projected into a screen made of a shower of water.) I remember seeing a Cirque production in Santa Monica ages ago (back when I was in high school) which wasn’t that memorable, for some reason. The main thing I remember was an extraordinarily flexible girl performer and lights surrounded by orange fabric being blown upwards by inset fans, simulating torch flames. I next saw a Cirque production (Mystere) in Las Vegas, which was incredible: I chalked up the difference to the fact that the Las Vegas show was a permanent fixture (I forget in which hotel), and so the troupe could go all out and set up the auditorium with much more elaborate lighting systems, sound systems, rigging, and other fixtures. I expected that Cavalia, being a travelling show, would suffer from some of the same sort of inadequacies of set as the old travelling Cirque show I saw, long, long ago, because it was also in a tent (far, far away) near the Santa Monica pier. But that wasn’t the case, in the least. Fine, still not as elaborate and “bolted down” as Las Vegas, but this wasn’t the same kind of show anyway, and it worked very well as it was. More friendly, conveying the spirit of having to work with the horses and their whims. Such as the decision of a fine white steed to unexpectedly let go of a nice clump of fertilizer right in the center of the stage, which subsequently became trampled all over the place. But that’s horses for you, and of course no one batted an eye.

In another sequence, one of the trainers tried to get three stallions to lie down simultaneously. When he finally got the third to lie down, though, the first stood up. When he got that one to lie down again, the second stood up. And so on. Eventually he “gave up” and tried to get them to all stand so he could lead them from the stage, but at that point the third had decided to lie there and refuse to budge. I thought this was an unscripted part of the show, a sort of freeform part where the trainer playfully tried to deal with some ‘stremely stubborn steeds, but in reality, per other reviews, that’s exactly how the sequence was supposed to play out, supposedly also being one of the hardest segments in the show to pull off.

It was cold, that night, outside. Almost freezing, I would bet. And although that’s nothing compared to most of the rest of the country, it’s been a cold year for Los Angeles, so far. Anyway, let’s return from that tangent and go back to considering the lotus blossom, after I state that I greatly enjoyed this show. And let me also thank my friend Stella, who found out about this and invited me along. Thank you, Stella.

Now, lotus blossoms. Let us contemplate. Ahh…