THE DISAPPEARING ACT

Lincoln Center’s Contemporary Dance Festival presents the New York debut of The
Disappearing Act by Yinka Esi Graves. Born in London to a Ghanaian and Jamaican
family, Graves is a flamenco artist, educator, and practitioner whose work explores the
connections between flamenco and other forms of embodied expression, particularly
through African diasporic and contemporary perspectives.

The Disappearing Act begins simply. Graves enters wearing a purple velvet jumpsuit
cropped above the ankles, allowing the audience to fully witness the intricacy of her
footwork. Her feet move with astonishing speed, producing sharp, percussive rhythms
that echo throughout the space.

At the same time, her upper body remains poised and commanding, her arms carving
strong lines through the air with precision and control. As the performance unfolds,
Graves takes a piece of chalk and begins drawing across the floor. Gradually, a
constellation-like map emerges beneath her, its lines and markings projected
overhead through a live feed that offers the audience a bird’s-eye view of the evolving
image.

She moves through and around this landscape in widening circles, her dancing tracing
pathways across the chalk-covered surface. The interplay between the drawing,
projection, and her movement transforms the stage into a living cartography, as though
she is simultaneously creating, navigating, and rewriting the terrain beneath her feet.

Throughout the performance, Graves interrupts the dancing with intimate spoken
interludes. Addressing the audience in French while applying makeup or putting on a
wig, she shifts between performer and storyteller, exposing the act of self-construction
that underlies performance itself. These moments create a striking contrast with the
intensity of her dancing, inviting the audience to consider how identity is assembled,
presented, and perceived.

What remains most memorable, however, is Graves’s stage presence. Her dancing is
utterly entrancing. I found myself becoming so absorbed in the movement that I
repeatedly forgot to take notes, surrendering instead to the rhythms and textures
unfolding before me. The performance demands attention not through spectacle alone
but through an extraordinary command of focus, timing, and physical expression.

EYE ON THE ARTS, NY — Frankie Lehr

Photos: Christopher Duggan