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Press - flamenco dance teacher and choreographer

Olympia Estrella and Rafael Campallo fuse flamenco and jazz in "Flamenco Blue, Copas en Nueva York"

The dancer from Granada premieres her show in New York and Philadelphia
Flamenco, jazz and tap make an effort to communicate with each other, or at least that's the idea behind "Flamenco Blue, Copas en Nueva York", the new show being presented by Olympia Estrella, a dancer from Granada who lives in Seville. Another dancer from Seville, Rafael Campallo, participates in the work as guest artist, in addition to jazz musicians Talib Kibwei and Robert Hogan, and tap dancer Joseph Webb. The production premieres January 8th and 13th, 2002 in New York, and the 14th in Philadelphia.
Ever since Pedro Iturralde and Paco de Lucia immortalized the joining of these two musical genres at the end of the seventies, both have been destined to get along. In a new attempt to demonstrate precisely this, artistic director and dancer Olympia Estrella has created the show "Flamenco Blue, Copas en Nueva York". The idea is to "combine the musical essence of jazz with flamenco in a production which maximizes a really intimate and dynamic kind of fusion". And far from being content with the simple fusion of musical styles, Olympia Estrella has set the goal of communicating the pulse, the feeling and the emotion of both forms, at the same time maintaining the ambience and individual personality of each.
Representing the flamenco side is the dancer from Seville Rafael Campallo who participates as guest artist, Mariano Campallo on the guitar and Emilio Cabello in charge of the cante. From the jazz contingent, there are American musicians like Talib Kibwei who has teamed up with other jazz musicians like Don Cherry and Randy Weston, and the jazz guitarist Robert Hogan, a regular in New York clubs. Tap dancer Joseph Webb, a member of the cast of "Bring in da noise, bring in da funk", which has been holding its own on Broadway for the last four years, is also featured.
The New York venue for the scheduled performances on January 8th and 13th, 2002 is the Pantheon Theater, while in Philadelphia the premiere will be held on January 14th in the AMLA Theater. "Flamenco Blue" is being sponsored by Absolut Vodka and the Spanish Chamber of Commerce in New York [Oficina Comercial Espanola]. The production is also being backed by Air Plus Comet, Gorham Hotel, Majorica Pearls, Rail Europe and the Roger Smith Hotel.

USA - Philadelphia Inquirer

Artistic Director, Rosa Olympia Estrella, born and raised in the Spanish region of Andalucia, has been dancing all her life.  But like many of todays flamenco artists, she is fascinated with the ways in which flamenco relates to other art forms.  She has assembled a ten member company of exciting individuals that represent several different performance worlds.  Flamenco Blue is a lot of fun, and fans of tap, jazz, blues and flamenco will all find something to enjoy.  The best part of Flamenco Blue is watching its various artists, observe one another, steal each other's riffs, and delight in making up their own witty variations.

USA - NY Times 

Rosa Olympia Estrella knows how to put on a good show.  Her Flamenco Blue troupe resembles a group of friends of varying artistic persuasions who get together regularly to jam.  By the end of  "Copas en Nueva York", Ms. Estrella's nicely paced and varied new show, the group of friends has extended to include the audience.

USA - NY Times 

"Estrella's flamenco and tap with blues and jazz music in "Flamenco Blues Impressions" seemed at first like one of those ideas that is better on paper.  Then suddenly the show took off, on Thursday night at the 42nd Street Theatre, with the ingredients merging and playing off one another like a dazzling jazz improvisation."

Spain - El Diario 

"There is no doubt that Rosa Olympia Estrella was born to be an artist.  With the talent, expressivity and passion of great a creator."

Spain - El Diario 

"A woman that dances with emotion throughout her entire body, that comes from the soul".

Spain - Efe

Estrella offers a Flamenco and Jazz cocktail at which purists would reproach but at which fusion fans will know how to enjoy, due to its fresh, upbeat flavor.  Thus this mix is a result of the diversity of New York where some artists that the risk to break ethnic and cultural barriers betting on pure fusion.

Spain - ABC

"Rosa Olympia Estrella said what she had to say with her Granadian accent and her silence that speaks through her elbows, wrists, fingers, full hands that reach the air, her waist, belly, leggs and feet that speak volumes, as dancers do when they have something important to say."

Romania - Magazine

Last year she presented the first flamenco show  in Romania. The tickets for "Women of Quijote", for which she was the choreographer, were sold out in three hours. This year, Rosa Olympia Estrella came back for a new project. She made from flamenco a way of life. Flamenco is not a purpose itself, but a journey. It is not the perfection that counts, the most important thing is to face your own limits and to know how to turn into strengths your frailties. "I decided to become a flamenco dancer when I saw Manuela Carasco in a show in Granada", remembers Rosa.  Her biggest challenge has become the fusion of different elements: flamenco, jazz, contemporary and neoclassic dance. Rosa's latest performances are: "Travelers Dream Pub" and "Angelfire Underground" presented also in "The Art of Dance" at Odeon Theatre, Bucharest.

Romania - Evenimentul zilei

Choreographer, dancer and director, Rosa Olympia Estrella, performed last year, for the first time in her show in Romania.  Declaring that that she loves the Romanian people,  they won her heart for life. She is now again on the stage with a Romanian 12 dancer troop, performing in a premiere show set to American music and dance styles, at the Odeon Theatre In "The Art of Dance". Estrella taught the dancers to pass beyond the borders of the genre. "The contemporary dancers need the technique given by the classical ballet and classical dancers need the freedom in movements given by modern contemporary dance", she declared.