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There are many illusions in ‘Cover’, Ouramdane’s new hour-long work, created under the umbrella of Association Fin Novembre, the collaborative group he co-founded with Julie Nioche, a decade ago. The genesis of this abstract piece stems from the social, political and cultural divisions in the often violent area of north-east Brazil. Each of the four dancers (Ouramdane, Carlos Antônio dos Santos, Marcos Fauller and Wagner Schwartz) have contributed their personal experiences of this region to the development of the work, which explores the impact of globalization on indigenous communities. From these tensions, Ouramdane seeks to identify how pragmatism and solidarity overcome social turbulence through the heightened awareness of mixed-race people whom he describes as the “bridger of gaps”.

As the screen continues it’s long, slow journey around the triangle, the four men march backwards and forwards across the stage, initially depositing items onto the floor and later collecting them back again. Men and artifacts all have a metallic appearance: bronzed skins mix with gun metal grey, pewter or rusty, copper coloured everyday items (petrol can, briefcase, traffic cone, binoculars, record player and many more). The monotony of movement and colour suggests an unending futility, emphasized by the bronze man group’s manic, staring eyes and the relentless journey of the screen around its triangular track. Occasionally, an obvious image of Brazil sticks out against the mundane backdrop: a performer regularly kicks a football, which another man “saves”.

The repetition is broken only by the strategic intervention of a solo for each of the four men, providing the only movement of lasting interest: one writhes agonizingly, mouthing a long, silent scream within the triangular structure: another, with elastic limbs, seems to dislocate his shoulders as he folds his arms around his head; and a third performs a great, teetering, twirling solo to Cole Porter’s ‘So in Love’ propelling movement by tugging ribbons tied to his huge platform shoes.

It ends to the sounds of The Smiths’ ‘Bigmouth Strikes Again’ and a lyric expressing the desire “to smash every tooth in your head”: a sentiment that offers an altogether different dental allusion than the “bridger of gaps” intended by its creator!

Despite an eclectic soundtrack (from Björk to Nina Simone, Hendrix to Gershwin) and a highly developed visual tapestry, which successfully retained a stranglehold on my consciousness, I found ‘Cover’ ultimately to be a dismal and confusing work. Judging from the muted applause at its conclusion, I was not alone in this disappointment.