The White Big Top tent has been up for weeks, and now the shows inside have begun.
The world’s largest touring production, Cavalia Odysseo, has made its return to Winnipeg after a record-breaking run in the city in 2015. More than 100,000 spectators attended here that year and organizers think they can equal and even surpass that total.
The show features a combination of equestrian and acrobatic techniques and will be performed in Winnipeg until at least June 17.
“It’s a beautiful and touching show,” Odysseo aerialist Jacqueline Ward Kehrwald said.
“You have the spectacle of acrobatics and stage technology, all of that drama and excitement, but it also has a very poetic and touching nature, and there’s a little bit of everything.”
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Seventy horses are used in a rotation as part of the production, with 45-50 horses performing per show. Depending on their role in the show, it can take anywhere from six months to multiple years to train them for their part in Odysseo.
READ MORE: Cavalia Horses arrive
The show boasts up to 400 performances per year, and will play in Winnipeg 37 times during this stop. The show then travels to Montreal, which will be the last Canadian tour stop, before it will end touring in favour of a permanent site which has yet to be unveiled.
What Winnipeggers saw in 2015 is very different in 2018, according to the crew.
“It’s a different show every single night,” rider Chelsea Jordan said.
“We’re working with live animals, so we always have to follow their lead. And there are new horses and new performers (from 2015).”
WATCH: Maria Aragon to perform at Cavalia
The White Big Top Tent peaks at 38 metres and covers a surface area of 5,425 square metres which is equivalent to the size of the Winnipeg Blue Bombers football field. It requires 110 semi-trucks to transport it from place to place.
Tickets are available at cavalia.com
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