Thursday, November 22, 2012

Valitar............

 Creative Team

Mark Remley is the founder of Equustria Development Inc. and producer of Valitar. Mark is an accomplished business owner with proven success in starting, building, growing, and improving the performance and value of companies.
With a strong desire and dedication, Mark has a vision of bringing a new and exciting level of equine entertainment to the public. A self-proclaimed adrenaline junkie, Mark brings the energy level and tenacity needed to produce a dramatic show like Valitar, worthy of national acclaim.




Valitar



Co-Producer

Tatyana Remley is a San Diego native. Her fashion modeling has enabled her to travel all over the world. She was an international fashion model for several years. Tatyana has been passionate about horses all her life. Tatyana started riding from a very young age. As a child, she learned to raise and train horses. She also grew up riding western pleasure, barrel racing, reining, cattle sorting, team penning, and driving horses of many breeds from mini’s to draft horses. More recently Tatyana has competed in polo, and team penning. She also enjoys training in Dressage and show jumping. Ultimately Tatyana loves entertaining, Valitar offers her the opportunity to mix her passion for horses, with her love of modeling fulfilling her lifelong dream of entertaining with horses.


Valitar shows canceled because of poor ticket sales
Nov. 21, 2012

— Future performances of Valitar, the equine-human acrobatics show that premiered last week at the Del Mar Fairgrounds, have been canceled, a spokeswoman for the fairgrounds said Wednesday.
The producers pulled the plug, citing slow ticket sales, according to a news release issued by fairgrounds spokeswoman Linda Zweig.
It was an abrupt end to the elaborate horse fantasy production that featured more than 25 performers and 55 horses, housed inside a gigantic red tent at the fairgrounds.
The show opened Friday and was supposed to run through Nov. 30, Zweig said in a brief phone interview. She referred further questions to the show’s producer Mark Remley.
A call to Remley’s cellphone Wednesday afternoon did not go through. A voice-mail message said the phone’s mailbox was full.
Remley produced the show with his wife, Tatyana, who was also a performer in the show.
An apology to fans was posted on Valitar’s Facebook page on Wednesday.
“Mark and Tatyana Remley, owners of the Equustria Development and Valitar, liquidated the business last night and stopped all scheduled Valitar shows,” the post said. “On behalf of the hard working, dedicated cast and crew who worked tirelessly to bring you a great show, we sincerely apologize for any inconvenience.”
The production appears to have been troubled from the beginning.
Darren Zatkow, a performer, said he left the show in late September, when it was still being developed, due to artistic differences with the Remleys, such as making Tatyana Remley the star of the show.
“She’s not a good horse rider and he wanted her to be the star of the show and all of us to kowtow to her,” Zatkow said.
Zatkow said many of the original performers left for the same reasons before the show opened in Del Mar.
Valitar was similar to another equine show, Cavalia, which is playing in San Diego.
Erik Martonovich, the original director of Valitar, said he also left the show due to artistic differences with the Remleys. He said the Remleys wanted artistic control.
“Suddenly, they wanted control of the show,” Martonovich said. “She started pushing what she wanted. He started pulling the I’m-writing-the-checks card.”
Martonovich said most of the original performers left when he did. That meant new performers had to be trained in a short time and much of the show had to be changed.
“I wasn’t at all surprised that the show closed,” Martonovich said. “A show like this takes a lot of preparation.”


roccobonaducci - 6 hours ago
People were gathering at their Facebook page, because there are people trying to get home without money, or trying to get their horses fed and transported. And the San Diego horse community was responding to them and providing contacts of local people that wanted to help.

But now, they have shut down the Facebook page. I hope the press stays on the story, because that is just a bad way to treat people. I wouldn't want to be named Remley, and be living in a horsing community like Rancho Santa Fe.
VC Bookkeeper - 11 hours ago
It's my understanding the producers have not paid the employees and went so far as to leave the horses with no food. One of the equine rescue groups I know of seemed to think there was a call out to find a place for the animals to stay while everything was resolved. Is there any information on this or truth to this rumor?
roccobonaducci - 11 hours ago
I watched her interview in the ut video and you can tell something wasn't right. Every time they asked her about the show, she would reply how she loved performing for people, and how grand it was going to be. She never really talked about the story or the details.

I feel bad for the workers who claimed they haven't been paid in weeks, and here we are on Thanksgiving day. My understanding is that the organizers are a local family with money and standing in the community, so I think we can expect a lot more press and legal claims to follow against them. 
Z - 19 hours ago
The reviews simply were not there. A startup show needs to be dirt cheap, these idiots went all out. The biggest free standing tent in the world? 2,200 seats? Couldn't they have rented the Sports Arena? 19 trucks to move the tent, and 25 more trucks to move the rest.

They needed all those $200 tickets sold. Unfortunately, unless it's a proven act, no one is going to pay $200 to see a circus act that was thrown together.

When you have a management team that chases off the talent and they replace a good amount of them at the last minute ..

.. and the Ticketmaster shenanigans, showing many tickets sold when they were not, just to get drum up sales. 
sangela - 22 hours ago
Sad...and horribly cowardly of the owners!I Feel bad for the performers and their horses that were left behind with no way to get home. That is heinous of the owners. I saw Cavalia last night, it was amazing...I also looked into seeing Valitar, but they were just as expensive (if not more) than Cavalia, and I knew with Cavalia I would be getting a great show. I figured since valitar was local, I can always buy tix when they're in town, but guess it was not to be. Very glad I didn't buy tix!


Website for this image

Z - 23 hours ago
Just looking at Tatyana's mug shot on the Valitar PR site ..
Looks like someone you wouldn't want to do business with. 
 
'This is funny, because watching the clips in the link above, not knowing who Tatyana was, my very first thought was, "where in the world did they scrounge this broad up at."  Let's hope the Markster get's his "national acclaim."  Starting by dispersing everything he might own, and paying the promised amount to the performers.'

 

Unknown


Wow!!!!  This is a sight I witnessed all to many times, years ago, and could never understand.   An elephant exiting the back door and getting it's ear jerked and it's head snatched off.   Just disgraceful, and we wonder why the profession encountered public relations issues?????   Thankfully it is a practice I have not seen in 25 years, and I can only hope this gentleman, whom ever he is/was, slept good at night...............

Unknown


Unknown


Unknown


Unknown


Unknown


Unknown


Unknown


Just A Reminder That There Are Other Animal's Out There, In Addition To Elephants......

 ,
 From Quigley's Cabinet, a great blog that I follow:

Adalgisa “Gisella” Caccone, senior research scientist in the Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology at Yale University and her colleagues coauthored a study in the journal Biological Conservation
about our friend Lonesome George (pictured). The Galapagos tortoise (Chelonoidis abingdoni) never mated, so his genetic line would have come to an end, but DNA analysis has revealed 17 hybrid tortoises whose ages suggest that purebred individuals may still alive. The researchers suggest that they may be the ancestors of tortoises thrown overboard by 19th century sailors and are going to Isabela Island for a look. “Our goal is to go back this spring to look for surviving individuals of this species and to collect hybrids. We hope that with a selective breeding program, we can reintroduce this tortoise species to its native home,” said Caccone.

__________
Related posts: