The Rhythmic Body - Flamenco WorkshopThrough the flamenco style of bulería, this workshop draws on Yinka's extensive experience as a flamenco dancer and her more recent work with Embodiology, an improvisational practice from an Africanist lens developed by Dr. Ama S. Wray that shares fundamental values with flamenco. Both are based on the idea that dance and music are inseparable. In this workshop participants will be guided to awaken their expressive, receptive and communicative body through the exploration of rhythm, group work and composition. This work will help dancers already versed in the form to renew their commitment to their own creativity in flamenco, and will offer an accessible way for newcomers to approach the form.___Yinka Esi Graves is a British dance maker and flamenco artist based in Seville, Spain. Her work excavates 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 spanning from stage pieces to in situ site specific work, as a solo artist and collaborator.Yinka's co-creation, Clay (2016), with choreographer Asha Thomas marked the beginning of a more investigative and experimental approach to her creation. Yinka also draws from her collaborations in productions such as Cuerpos Celestes and Origen by Cia Marco Vargas y Chloé Brûlé and 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 2023) and has subsequently toured to international festivals such as El Grec, La Batie, FIT de Cadiz, Albuquerque Flamenco Festival, Tanz Im August Festival and Avignon Festival amongst others. This piece is the culmination of Yinka's multidisciplinary exploration of invisibility and erasure as it pertains to the black experience. 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. Her next production, A Place To Dance, is a collaboration with Madrid-based Brazilian dancer and choreographer Poliana Lima, due to premiere in February 2026. At the same time, she is working on a new solo scheduled for 2027.Date: Saturday 25th October, 2025Time: 11am - 2pmCosts: €22,50Location: ICK's Space for Dance ArtRijnlandlaan 3, AmsterdamFor more information, please send an email to communication@ickamsterdam.nl with reference to Flamenco Workshopphoto © Courtney Yusuf
