Acrobat’s cable snaps, performer walks away
SM BEACH — Acrobat Anne Gendreau walked away with only a bruise after the cable she was suspended from snapped Wednesday, slamming her into the ground during the opening night of Cavalia.
Gendreau, who had been performing aerial acts for about four minutes alongside a Lusitano horse at heights of about 30 feet, was hanging from a waist harness and had nearly completed her act. When she released off the horse, Gendreau shot up and was thrown to the ground from about 12 feet above. Her partner and the other performers immediately dismounted their horses to check on Gendreau, who slowly got up and walked off stage.
“The performers were shocked,” said City Councilman Bob Holbrook, who, like the other 1,900 spectators in attendance, was stunned. “They didn’t know what to do.”
The accident was the first of its kind in the traveling show, which has put on more than 250 performances, said Cavalia spokeswoman Marie-Claude Lavigne, who was with Gendreau immediately following the accident.
“We were really lucky she was only bruised,” Lavigne said, who added the performers on stage were cautious to move Gendreau because they were unsure of her injuries.
“She is doing great and is more scared than hurt,” Lavigne said Thursday, adding Gendreau took one night off and was planned to perform again today. “To be really sure, she is going to rest. To do what she is doing, she has to be confident.”
The cable apparently wasn’t designed correctly to handle the pressure. But it had been fixed.
“Everything we do we are very careful,” Lavigne said. “It’s a grand scale show and it’s a risky business but they are all professionals...
“You don’t make anything spectacular without some spectacle,” she added.
The accident occurred during the first act, shortly before the intermission. The announcer informed the audience as the second act was about to begin that Gendreau was OK and had suffered some minor scratches.
As if the show’s acrobatics weren’t enough to keep audience members on their edge of their seats, Gendreau’s near miss left many wondering if something else would happen. It did. During the second act, a trick rider who was standing on two horses while they jumped at full speed over a suspended log couldn’t slow down in time and was thrown into the wall. He walked away unscathed and the near-miss didn’t interrupt the flow of the performance.
Despite the two incidents, opening night of Cavalia appeared to be a success. Audience members, who ranged from Santa Monica’s mayor to the police chief and fire chief, local politicians and dozens of community members, raved about the performance at an opening night reception held following the two-hour show.
Created by Normand Latourelle, one of the founders of Quebec’s famed Cirque du Soleil, Cavalia is a involves acrobatics, live music, projected images and more than 69 performers, including a troupe of 37 horses from around the world. During the show, horses cavort with acrobats, aerialists and riders in front of an ever-changing background projected on a 200-foot-wide screen. Acclaimed European “horse whisperer” Frederic Pignon and his wife, Magali Delgado, commanded the animals, who playfully pranced around the stage, side stepped, walked in unison and galloped at full speeds, oftentimes completely unfettered by brides or halters. The horses even took bows for the audience.
Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on November 12, 2004. Read the original PDF.