"Woaaah, but she's huge!" exclaims a little girl perched on her father's shoulders.

The ocher, wood and steel creature, 11 meters high, has just woken up.

Around her a few children are startled.

On the Trail of the Giants, where Long Ma appeared alongside the Minotaur and the Giant Spider on Saturday, her nostrils smoke, her bright red eyes stare at the audience.

Suddenly, the dragon mare rears up.

Its huge mouth opens, spitting threatening flames.

"She doesn't scare me! With her gestures, she looks like my cat, I really have the impression that she is watching me, that she is sweet," says Manon, 11, without taking her eyes off the mare- strap with long eyelashes.

His mother looks equally amazed.

"Whatever our age, we all have the same look at these machines. They take us back to a period of our childhood when we were Lilliputians in a world of giants", estimates François Delarozière, artistic director of the Compagnie nantaise de la Machine.

universal "magic"

The mythological creature, created in 2014 on the occasion of the 50th anniversary of Sino-French relations and financed by a Chinese patron, paraded for the first time in Beijing, bringing together hundreds of thousands of people.

The Long-Ma dragon-horse, created by François de la Rozière and his company "La Machine", in the streets of Toulouse, April 16, 2022 Valentine CHAPUIS AFP

Observing for years the reactions aroused by his XXXL puppets from the public, the creator of Long Ma is always fascinated by the "magic" that operates, "regardless of the country".

"Many people who are a little serious suddenly find their child's gaze and let themselves be surprised by their emotion, without asking themselves any questions," he told AFP.

On the Trail of the Giants, Long Ma must thwart the traps of the Giant Spider.

According to a Chinese legend, the dragon mare is commissioned by the goddess Nuwa, creator of humanity, to close a hole in the sky caused by the disruption of the forces of nature.

Scanning the crowd, the monumental monster moves quietly, then comes face to face with the Minotaur.

Her ears quiver, her chest swells, then she blinks, with a look surprisingly tender.

"Our machines are made like an animal body", underlines Mr. Delarozière, insisting on the task of the puppeteers and the "hours and hours of rehearsal" to obtain the expected result.

"The red thread of our work is to assemble inert matter, and through movement, produce emotion", adds the inventor.

Thrills and chills

Joe Smith is the conductor who "brings life" to Long Ma, directing with a sure hand, with case and joystick, the ten "machinists" installed on board the giant creature.

The Long-Ma dragon-horse, created by François de la Rozière and his company "La Machine", in the streets of Toulouse, April 16, 2022 Valentine CHAPUIS AFP

"To tame this machine, you have to try to get into its mind: the look is very important, the way it comes into contact with the public and with the environment around it", confides this 51-year-old Englishwoman.

Installed on the back of the mare-dragon, Jacky Torzanioli takes care of the special effects, of making the mare-dragon spit fire, smoke or water.

"I've been working with big puppets for twenty years. You can't say that I'm jaded, but I felt much less emotion. When Long Ma arrived, I immediately found the sensations of the beginning , this little shiver that slides to the bottom of the kidneys”, confides the fifty-year-old.

The secret of the dragon mare?

“His way of moving, his gaze maybe,” he says.

In Toulouse since February - after a visit to the Nantes workshops for its ten-year maintenance - Long Ma will stay a few more months in the south-west of France.

From April 19, the more adventurous can even treat themselves to a trip, nestled in a temple placed on its back, before it takes off again for China at the end of August.

© 2022 AFP