Nadia Richer balances on Philippe Tezenas' head as he rides Chucaro during a scene from "Cavalia" at the Rio. Photo by Jane Kalinowsky.

Even with five Cirque du Soleil shows on the Strip, there's still an allure to a big top looming near Interstate 15.

In late 1992, a similar white tent behind The Mirage heralded the arrival of Cirque du Soleil and its first Las Vegas effort, "Nouvelle Experience." Unless you have been able to resist every Cirque since, the elaborate, 2,000-seat structure housing the Cirque-like "Cavalia" in the Rio's north parking lot no longer has the same ability to surprise. And yet, perhaps miraculously, the show inside proves we still haven't hit the outer limits of Cirque du Saturation.

"Cavalia" is staged outside the company by a fellow Canadian, early Cirque collaborator Normand Latourelle. Its celebration of horse and humans expands the vision of a previous big-top attraction, Cheval Theatre, which also was created by a Cirque veteran (Gilles Ste-Croix) to answer the question of what might have been had Cirque not famously ruled out the use of animals.

"Cavalia" is more accomplished, as much the high-tech wonder of "O" as the dusty thrills of Cheval. The staging remedies the limitations Cheval created by confining itself to a circular performing ring. This layout is more standard theater, with all audience members facing the stage in steeply graded horizontal rows of seats (for folks who have trouble getting in and out, it's probably just as well that there is intermission).

The horses have a full 160 feet to run the length of the performance space, which slopes into a banked oval surrounded by 210 feet of projection screens.

The show has its surreal moments, such as a "rain curtain" giving way to identical horses and female riders (Estelle Delgado and Magali Delgadobu) doing a mirror-image routine. But the projections also can surround the horses with a cinematic virtual reality of forests or plains, sometimes augmented by real falling leaves or snowflakes.

The extra space unleashes the Appaloosas and their trick-riders to charge from end to end with exhilarating freedom. It also gives more space for acrobats and bungee aerialists, who sometimes relieve the equine stars and sometimes mix it right up among them.

In the most dreamlike segment, two female aerialists on wires (Anne De Lottinville and Nadia Richer) lift away from the horses and hover just above and beyond them as they pound in circles around the ring.

Other stunts need no stagecraft to get the adrenaline rushing. Roman riders stand with feet planted on two horses running astride, and one guy finds himself steering four before they all jump a hurdle together. Another is able to leap over a barrier and land again on the two horses who pass under it.

The high-energy stunts contrast with the new-agey tone of the free-form closing sequence, in which co-director Frederic Pignon communes with three Lusitano or Spanish-Friesian stallions. The live band goes silent except for an acoustic guitar that gently buys time for Pignon's horse-whispering, as he coaxes the gorgeous beasts to kneel, lie down or plant him a kiss.

Those who are simply exhausted with French-Canadian artistry can feel free to subtract a letter grade from "Cavalia" for its familiar tone, or stay away altogether. Their seats will surely be filled by the less jaded, particularly National Finals Rodeo horse fanciers who will be delighted by these Vegas show-horses. Not only do they sport fancy hair braids, they can line-dance, wave and even know how to take their bows.