el rubí

Der Bund

Cut Carbuncles

The dance company Flamencos en route beguiled audiences at the Tojo Theater located in the Reitschule Bern culture center with its performance of “el rubí”, an intimate chamber play for one female and two male dancers, a female and a male singer, and four instrumentalists.

Clay, aluminum, and oxygen. These are the chemical elements that inspired Brigitta Luisa Merki to create her latest production – that is if you look at the components individually. In combination the three elements form the ruby. “El rubí” is also the title of the performance. “El rubí” is an expressive play without a story line that captures the audience from the very first moment. Just like with the crimson precious stone, the entirety of this production is much more than the sum of its components. The little chamber play stands out through its atmospheric density; its perfect timing, from the melancholy, wailing “Ai ai” sounds to the furious clacking of the talons; the masterfully designed color scheme for the stage lighting with its waves of sand pouring across stage and walls; and, no less noteworthy, the costumes.

Even the emotions are kept to a minimum: the language of the flamenco is never loquacious, but rather eloquent and many-voiced. Passion, joie de vivre, amorous ardor, and – in the encore – a dose of self-mockery are the ingredients of this performance, but never exaggerated pathos. Theatrical means are used very sparingly. There are no opulent dresses with long trains, no fans, and no artificial flowers adorning the dancer’s hair.

Brigitta Luisa Merki transforms the ambient energy created by the movements of the dancers into art, thus turning the performers themselves into rubies being cut. Creating original works represents a recurring challenge for the choreographer, who has been pursuing her artistic career and reinventing the flamenco for every one of her creations for the past 25 years. Merki keeps meeting the challenge thanks to the hand-picked group of highly-talented people that forms her ensemble. She allows her artists with their diverse personalities to contribute their individual talents to her art, thus demonstrating her own extensive artistic experience.

In the Magic Realm

After all these years the ensemble still takes the same pleasure in experimenting. Currently, a female Arab singer (Karima Nayt) captivates the audiences. Nayt is a veritable discovery. Her expressive strings of sounds accented with raspy, guttural sounds seductively combine with the melancholy play of the nyckelharpa (played by Erik Rydvall) and mysteriously extend the movements of the dancers into the darkness. Additional emotional dialogues, which implode in circles and sometimes follow a diagonal trajectory trailing off in the imperceptible distance, also develop between the flamenco guitarists (Juan Gomez, Pasqual de Lorca), the percussionist (Fredrik Gille), and the dancers with their differing temperaments (Carmen Iglesias, Eloy Aguilar, José Moro).

 Evidently, the nine-member ensemble has found a perfect way to transform the intimacy of the cramped performance space into a magic realm. It has given the ruby – representing art in its many facets – an opportunity to shine. The ensemble makes cut carbuncles in the form of props, which are passed around ostentatiously on the stage between arias, duets, dance solos, and light circles, superfluous. Four years have passed since the award-winning dance company last performed in Bern. A lack of performance opportunities at Dampfzentrale (a cultural center) was the reason according to the choreographer. Now Brigitta Luisa Merki has ventured into the Tojo, where a full house has enthusiastically received her chamber play. 

Translation into English: Liselotte Kuster

Marianne Mühlemann, Der Bund, 30.03.2012

Aargauer Zeitung, Medienverbund AZ

Ruby-red Dance Stories

Audiences react enthusiastically to the new production, "el rubí", by Brigitta Luisa Merki's dance company Flamencos en route

A red, sparkling object rests in the woman's skirt. She protects it like something very precious and then starts to sing to it in Arabic with her warm voice. Karima Nayt, a native of Algeria, changes seemingly without effort from singer to dancer on stage and unrolls a first dialogue with the two Swedish musicians Fredrik Gille and Erik Rydvall.

The ruby, "el rubí", is the main theme in the songs and dances of the new production by Flamencos en route, the dance company from Baden, Switzerland. What do the flamenco and the ruby have in common? "In Spanish people often say 'es una joya', something is a jewel," explains Brigitta Luisa Merki, who founded Flamencos en route in 1984 and received the Max Reinhart Ring, the most prestigious Swiss award for the performing arts, in 2004. It was clear to her from the start that the gemstone in the piece had to be a ruby - legendary, mysterious, and a symbol of love. "The ruby is a precious raw material asking to be refined, so that it may shine at its brightest, just like the flamenco," Brigitta Luisa Merki says.

... José Moro dances the alegría, a light-hearted, joyful song. Together with Karima Nayt he performs a modern dance duet, during which the Algerian singer and dancer sings as well. A Spanish/Swedish duet then ensues: Musician Erik Rydvall joins the performance with his nyckelharpa, a medieval violin played predominantly in Sweden.

... Brigitta Luisa Merki never sacrifices the essence of the flamenco and still manages to avoid stereotypes.

... The two Spanish guitarists, Juan Gomez and Pascual de la Lorca, as well as Swedish percussionist Fredrik Gille represent the heart and soul of the music. A particularly moving moment occurs during the duet of flamenco singer Manuel de la Curra and the Algerian singer, Karima Nayt. In their duet, the soft musical idiom of the Arabic singing mixes with the piercing, bloodcurdling flamenco singing.

Bridges between Cultures

Once again artistic director Brigitta Luisa Merki has succeeded in creating a stage production that has found an enthusiastic audience beyond the flamenco fans. She never sacrifices the essence of the flamenco and still manages to avoid stereotypes. The international mix of musicians and dancers in "el rubí" leads to the building of bridges between different cultures, something that has always been essential to the flamenco.

Ursula Haas, Aargauer Zeitung, Medienverbund AZ, 19.11.2011

Basler Zeitung

The Facets of the Ruby

Brilliant Dance Premiere by Flamencos en route at the Roxy Theater

A gemstone has to be cut before it sparkles. For her production "el rubí", the ruby, choreographer Brigitta Luisa Merki cut several gemstones at once. Her company is made up of an entire string of rubies.

The precious stone lies at the center of the new production by Flamencos en route; dance, music, and song all revolve around it. The ruby is said to have legendary powers that bestow protection, dignity, and might upon its owner. The self-choreographed dances by José Moro, Eloy Aguilar, and Carmen Iglesias portray each dancer's individual search for this gemstone, the flamenco.

Joy, anticipation, and melancholy: These are Flamencos en route's three main themes, expressed in rhythmic, electrified, and stomping fashion; full of passion; resulting in a fantastic, virtuoso dance performance. This dance is genuine; it inundates the stage with a wave of emotions.

The solo dancers are accompanied by musicians who play with equal virtuosity and elicit from their instruments mournful vibrations, joyful rhythms, and subdued chords. They level an acoustic landscape and drive the dancers with their rapid, thundering steps along - farther, ever farther.

Apart from the five Algerian and Spanish musicians playing the guitar and the cajón, Swedish violinist Erik Rydvall accompanies the dance performances with the nickelharpa. The latter is a medieval bowed string instrument predominantly played in northern countries, which adds a warm note to the southern dance.

Harmonious Interplay

What would flamenco be without song? In Karima Nayt, an Algerian singer, Flamencos en route has found a warm, full-bodied low voice. Through her expressive performance, Arabic singing, and delicate movements she creates a uniform presentation of this multi-faceted dance: flamenco as soulful temperament. In the duet performed with singer Manuel de la Curra a harmonious interplay takes place, reflecting the flamenco in all its facets.

Once again, choreographer Brigitta Luisa Merki and her Flamencos en route are on their way, in search of the dance that holds century-old stories - stories she has been reinterpreting and retelling in new and different forms for the past 27 years.

Individually choreographed dances; one's own movements; one's own language; and finding access to the Spanish dance are her goals. And so the Flamencos take up their search again - not least for the red ruby. And for their own identity. With "el rubí" Brigitta Luisa Merki has taken a gemstone of Spanish folklore and cut and polished it. And indeed it sparkles.

Julia Voegelin, Basler Zeitung, 19.11.2011