You can watch Cavalia from many different levels... The romantic ex-ballerina took in the pure aesthetics of decor, music and lighting. The dressage aficionado was humbled by the skills of the riders. The animal trainer observed the methods and cues with the unharnessed horses, very different from when one is riding them, and a lot more difficult.
I couldn’t help but wonder if the audience realized the difficulty and skill involved throughout. Dressage is like tennis : it looks so easy but is so complex.
Two choreographies are etched in my mind. Both involved Frédéric Pignon, the most elegant rider I’ve ever seen in my life. Magali Delgado has enormous skill but she looks like a rider. Pignon, on horse back, looks like an elf and a king : magical, noble, ethereally graceful. The long, shimmering dresses add much to the ambiance. Men, women and horses all have long, flowering manes…. They seemed straight out of a Waterhouse painting or the Lothlorien. The dance of the luminous silver Lusitano horses and long-robed medieval riders in a misty forest is something I’ll never forget.
I’ve searched but not found a single still photograph that does justice to the magic. Still, here’s one of Frédéric Pignon and a protégé.
Copyright Lynne Glazer 2004
I wish I were a writer to evoque what I’ve seen. Since I am not, I will selfishly shut up and hold the images within me.
quelle photo ! Elle exprime admirablement l'amour, la communion
ReplyDeleteet même la tendresse qui semblent exister entre Frédéric Pignon, les autres entraîneurs et leurs merveilleux chevaux.