A Divine Dance

In this project, I want to look at the literal discipline of hippodrama, but I also want to conduct a  performance study of equestrian sports. The purpose in doing this is to see how we can view the discipline of horsemanship as an art form and how studying equestrian techniques can help advance the theatrical world.

Below is an example of one way to display the similarities between the equestrian performance world to the theatrical performance world.  The top video shows the performance of a bullfighting horse named Merlin. I would like to emphasize that I do not promote bullfighting and I consider it to be an inhumane sport. However, this is a valuable clip because it showcases the artistry and athleticism required of the horses trained for this discipline. It also displays the amazing and lyrical choreography required to become triumphant in this dance of death. The clip below is a dance being choreographed to the same song "Bring me to Life" by Evanescence. The ideal way to compare these two videos is to play the simultaneously. The best way to accomplish this is to put the bottom video on mute and beginning that clip, then immediately begin the top clip.

Enjoy!

"There is a point where we become artists-take moments to be creative. Become one with the horse"-Buck Brannaman

The 2011 Sundance Film Festival premiered a documentary on a man named Buck Brannaman who is considered a real life horse whisperer. This documentary follows this modern day cowboy to various clinics he hosts in attempt to teach people to better understand horses, and the language of horses. Brannaman says himself "Everything’s a dance. Everything you do with a horse is a dance." Training a horse, and any animal for that matter, becomes an art form itself. But, with horses this experience is heightened. We get to ride these majestic creatures. They become submissive to us, they trust us to take care of them and we trust them to take care of us. The core to any theatrical production is COLLABORATION! This can be an extremely difficult task to accomplish, but it is within grasp, and it is an element we learn while training animals.

Buck Brannaman himself was a performer at an early age. His father made him and his brother into trick ropers that toured doing their show. Buck also has to transform himself into a performer when he conducts his clinics, but the horses become the main players. They determine the story of the day depending on who is there and how cooperative they decide to be, the main objective of these clinics is to establish an effective collaboration between horse and human, by learning the art of listening and patience.

Have I peaked your interest?? Here is the trailer for Buck. Hopefully it encourages you to check out this remarkable film: