HELENA — All weekend long, Cirque Ma’Ceo will be in Helena at West Mont Farm & Gardens.
Rachel Gauthier, one of the show's acrobats, explained, “This show is mostly like all about horses and really fancy horses running around but you also see aerialist hand balance. Fire spinning, fire dancers. There are dancers as well, like Latina, like from Argentina. There's Cossack riding with the horses, dressage, and there's a traditional bareback, right at the finale that you don't want to miss.”
Gauthier is one impressive aerial artist and trick rider. Her story may not begin the way one would expect. She grew up in Quebec, Canada. When she was 15, she decided to go to circus school, and at 18, she fell in love with horses and began barrel racing.
“After that, like, why not combine my two passions of circus and acrobatics. And I started to do trick riding and went to France to get training and all around like America as well,” she said.
In Cirque Ma’Ceo, you’ll see her trick riding on a Mustang named Gambino, which means "short legs" in Italian, a fitting name for the stout horse.
Their relationship started off rocky, but now Gauthier describes Gambino as her “sweetest thing on the tour.”
Gauthier goes by Rachel Fly in the show, as she is heavily influenced by the spirit of the red dragonfly, which in Japanese culture is a symbol of joy, happiness, and courage. Her goal is to encourage people to take flight.
“Seeing the eyes of the audience, the eyes of the little girls fascinated about what I'm doing because when I see the little girl with her big bright eyes, I remember the little girl that I was when I first saw a circus show. And that is precious,” she said.
There are several opportunities to see Gauthier and the rest of the cast in their high-energy, equestrian-acrobatic stunt show. Shows are Saturday at 4 p.m. and 7 p.m., and Sunday at 1 p.m. and 4 p.m. Click here for ticket information.
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