Aakash Odedra Company, The Place, review: Impressive star and important subject don't add up to strong work

Odedra’s exploration of his own dyslexia gets bogged down in elaborate staging

Akaash Odedra scurries through sheets of blank paper

Murmur 2.0 has an impressive star and an important subject, which doesn’t add up to a strong work. Aakash Odedra’s exploration of his own dyslexia gets bogged down in elaborate staging.

Trained in Indian classical dance, before moving into contemporary styles, Odedra established his own company with eye-catching works by big-name choreographers such as Akram Khan and Russell Maliphant. As a dancer, he’s taut and mercurial.

This work expands the earlier Murmur, created with Lewis Major. Odedra stands in a ring of electric fans, counting out rhythmic syllables and tapping an offbeat on his leg. He explains that, due to his dyslexia, he didn’t realise his own name started with a double A until he was 21.

Odedra folds himself up, balancing in a handstand with his legs in lotus position, or opens out into stamping kathak footwork. He scurries through sheets of blank paper, looking for one with a talismanic A written on it. Intricate graphics by Ars Electronica Futurelab swirl around him, dots and scraps of paper becoming flocks of birds.

There’s some good imagery, but the setup is clunky. Odedra has said that, since dyslexia made written language alien, dance offered him freedom. Frustratingly, Murmur 2.0 never quite lets him take flight.

Until 21 November. Tour dates from www.aakashodedra.co.uk