"The Flamencos Group has shown us the best of this traditional Spanish dance ..."
Neue Zürcher Zeitung

The company is unrivalled in the European dance scene in terms of continuous innovation, enthusiasm for experimentation and unwavering creativity. The company's productions have lost nothing of their narrative powers and diversity over the 35 years of its existence.

Context

A piece of dance history - The intensive cooperation with Susana over a period of twenty-five years generated an organically evolved form of further development in dance and music.

The Flamencos en route dance company was founded by Brigitta Luisa Merki and Susana, who rose to fame as a dancer in the duo "Susana y José", as a choreographer and teacher at the National Ballet School and National Ballet of Toronto, Mudra School Béjart, Brussels, Opera House Ballet, Zurich. She has given international summer courses right around the world. Her work as a teacher was the subject of a moving documentary, entitled "Flamenco at 5:15", which won an Oscar in 1984.

"Susana y José" danced on all the great stages of the world between 1948 and 1970. They brought authentic Flamenco dancing to the stage, turned folk dances into an art form and began back then to tell their tales. They set the benchmarks for interpretation in the theatre. Their dancing evenings were artistically structured, devised with carefully analysed rhythm, their own controlled power and wildness. All the pieces followed common strands in terms of form and content, which was unheard of before. They dealt with themes, figures and their histories, such as the fates of Carmen, Orpheus or Don Juan. These tales were stripped down to their bare bones, focusing the interest on the passionate relations between men and women. This new approach of translating literature into dance, of extracting psychological cores, of human archetypes made them famous right around the world.
The music for these works was composed by Antonio Robledo , composer and Susana's partner.

Susana and Antonio Robledo took over the artistic direction of the Flamencos en route dance company in 1984. They are still heavily associated with it, and Antonio Robledo continues to compose the music for the company.

1994 Brigitta Luisa Merki took over the artistic direction. Her very intensive cooperation with Susana and Antonio Robledo has resulted in an organically grown form of developing dance and music.