(...) Mozart, Flamenco and Brahms: With its range of choreographies by Schläpfer, Merki and Ek, the new b.23 (Ballet evening no. 23) at the Düsseldorf Opera runs the gamut from the symphonic to the folkloristic.
(...) The flamenco wins because it no longer relies exclusively on drama and flamboyant gestures. Men lifting the women in the duets or having them spin across the stage allows for more variety in the emotional expression of the performers. (...)

Alexandra Albrecht, Frankfurter Allgemeine, 19.03.2015

Rheinische Post

only available in German

Dorothee Krings, Rheinische Post, 16.03.2015

WAZ/NRZ, Kultur und Freizeit

only available in German

Michael-Georg Müller, WAZ/NRZ, Kultur und Freizeit, 16.03.2015

Westdeutsche Zeitung

only available in German

Lars Wallerang, Westdeutsche Zeitung, 16.03.2015

Online Musik Magazin

Three performances that make the audience marvel: The 23rd ballet evening designed by Schläpfer for the Düsseldorf and Duisburg Operas has turned out to be the most comical, most astounding, and most weightless one yet.
(...) Siguiriya, a young girl, brilliantly danced by Schläpfer's prima ballerina, Marlúcia do Amaral, throws herself into the arms of the vastly different flamenco, masterfully danced itself by the dance company Flamencos en route. Great tension develops from the different dance styles: the very demanding flamenco foot work with its small steps and the big ballet leaps performed around the circular stage by Amaral, the "classical" dancer.
(...) There is something different about it, extremely virtuosic, but never folkloric.

Stefan Schmöe, Online Musik Magazin, 15.03.2015

Niederrhein Nachrichten

(...) What Choreographer Brigitta Luisa Merki and her dance company "Flamencos en route," the dancers of the Ballett am Rhein and the "Flamencos en route" musical ensemble manage to produce on stage is a kind of Big Bang in slow motion: Everything becomes a stroke of genius. "Adónde vas, Siguiriya?" Capricho Flamenco is more than the separating piece between Mozart and Brahms. Merki and her ensemble explain the world from a unique point of view: in a breath-taking mixture of elemental force and intimacy, staged in an arena of light. Long before the last sounds fade away it becomes clear that Merki's excursion into the world does not represent the separating piece between Mozart and Brahms, but, rather, the connecting piece. Merki's ensemble offers the most precious gift art has to give: a representation of the present. The evening gains momentum. The audience perceives the world through the windows of a superfast train; the faster the audience breathes, the clearer the images become - until the sudden end of the journey makes the images disappear into nothing. The piece offers no final tableau with the complete ensemble on stage. Instead, it ends like grandmother's good-night kiss. And all the fear is gone. One could now calmly walk into the night.... (...)

Heiner Frost, Niederrhein Nachrichten, 15.03.2015

Deutschlandfunk, Kultur Heute

(...) The second premiere of the evening was a production by Swiss Choreographer Brigitta Luisa Merki, in which she had her own flamenco ensemble - phenomenal musicians and dancers - collaborate with members of the Ballett am Rhein. With this combination she can stage her own unique encounters between different dance cultures, i.e. the traditional flamenco and contemporary dance. At any time, she can separate the mixed performance into its two idioms again and have individual dancers dance in their style. This flexibility, together with the fact that the musicians sit on the stage behind the dancers, makes her production very straightforward and gives it a surprisingly genuine effect. For, every performer in her production only does what s/he can do convincingly and authentically. (...)

Wiebke Hüster, Deutschlandfunk, Kultur Heute, 15.03.2015

WDR, Lokalzeit aus Düsseldorf

Ballet meets Flamenco
Television report WDR (only available in German ) about the new piece from Brigitta Luisa Merki. Flamencos en route together with dancers from the opera house in Düsseldorf. Premiere: Saturday 14th of March 2015

Daniela Partenzi, WDR, Lokalzeit aus Düsseldorf, 11.03.2015

Magazin des Balletts am Rhein

only available in German
You can order the magazin here

Anne do Paço, Magazin des Balletts am Rhein, 17.11.2014