John gave me a belated anniversary present last night: we went to the Cavalia horse circus here in San Jose. It was delightful. The human circus performers and, for the most part, the horses seemed to have as good a time as the audience. John bought us good seats so we could see everything and we even got to visit the 4-footed performers in their tent-barn after the show. The horses are all male but both the men and women executed impressive circus and riding stunts. There was evident variation in skill among the people but good humor smoothed over the differences. The music and light shows accompanying each phase were very well done.
I could not take photos – the flash might distract and endanger the performers – but the action was so fast I am not sure how well the images would have turned out anyway. If there was one disappointment to this fun event, it was the lack of “airs above the ground”. I saw the Lipizzaner show when I was a girl and I was thrilled by the classical dressage movements: levade, courbette, and capriole. The Cavalia show offered one half hearted rear but everything else was four feet down.
Images Copyright 2012 by Katy Dickinson






