Yinka Esi Graves
Yinka Esi Graves is a British choreographer and flamenco dancer. Her work explores the links between flamenco and contemporary forms rooted in the African diaspora.
With a long career in flamenco, she studied at the Amor de Dios dance school in Madrid and later in Seville with artists such as La Lupi, Andrés Marín, Yolanda Heredia and Juana Amaya. As a flamenco dancer she has accompanied renowned artists such as Remedios Amaya and Concha Buika. Graves’ more recent work with dance makers and thinkers nora chipaumire and Dr Ama Wray have helped further define her work.
Yinka’s co-creation, Clay, with choreographer Asha Thomas (former Alvin Ailey dancer), marks the beginning of a more investigative and experimental approach to her creation. Yinka also draws from her collaborations in productions such as Los Cuerpos Celestes and Origen by Cia Marco Vargas and Chloé Brûlé. As well as Mailles by Dorothée Munyaneza, with whom she’s toured to festivals internationally.
Graves’ first solo work, The Disappearing Act, premiered at the Nimes Flamenco Festival (France) in 2023, this work is the culmination of her multidisciplinary exploration of invisibility. As part of the Bienal de Flamenco de Sevilla 2022, Yinka presented The Disappearing Act: On Erasure, an illustrated lecture based on the theoretical corpus of the stage piece.
With a long career in flamenco, she studied at the Amor de Dios dance school in Madrid and later in Seville with artists such as La Lupi, Andrés Marín, Yolanda Heredia and Juana Amaya. As a flamenco dancer she has accompanied renowned artists such as Remedios Amaya and Concha Buika. Graves’ more recent work with dance makers and thinkers nora chipaumire and Dr Ama Wray have helped further define her work.
Yinka’s co-creation, Clay, with choreographer Asha Thomas (former Alvin Ailey dancer), marks the beginning of a more investigative and experimental approach to her creation. Yinka also draws from her collaborations in productions such as Los Cuerpos Celestes and Origen by Cia Marco Vargas and Chloé Brûlé. As well as Mailles by Dorothée Munyaneza, with whom she’s toured to festivals internationally.
Graves’ first solo work, The Disappearing Act, premiered at the Nimes Flamenco Festival (France) in 2023, this work is the culmination of her multidisciplinary exploration of invisibility. As part of the Bienal de Flamenco de Sevilla 2022, Yinka presented The Disappearing Act: On Erasure, an illustrated lecture based on the theoretical corpus of the stage piece.