Nigeria-born Irish choreographer Mufutau Yusuf has created an uncompromising and intense examination of the politics of the black body in Impasse. It’s a piece that plays with your perceptions, demands your full attention and unfolds its startling and surreal details at its own pace. It feels like an absolute reclamation, performed by Yusuf himself and Kennedy Junior Muntanga, both of whom completely immerse themselves in its physical demands and vision. 

When we enter, what looks like a pile of checked plastic laundry bags is lying onstage, stacked on top of ceremonial cloth strips. It turns out there’s a dancer inside them, who rises up as if part deity, dancing to upbeat drums, staring us down, turning the bags into regal robes. It’s a gorgeous, surrealist opening, recasting objects associated with homelessness and migration as magisterial. Then immediately Yusuf plunges into harrowing territory as we see him facing away from us, naked and clutching the standing, clothed body of Muntanga. The terror and strength of the image is compounded by tiny, controlled ripples that run along Yusuf’s back, to a soundtrack of wood creaking and cracking. There are so many densely packed metaphors here; the abuse of black bodies, inherited trauma, objectification, bones breaking free from bonds. We still have not seen either of their faces. 

Yusuf builds on this tension, and the two men run on the spot, facing away from their audience for a stamina-straining amount of time. Occasionally they fall into echoes of steps from African traditional dances. When they finally face us to the sound of a solo voice singing, it’s a triumphant moment. From then on, the dance takes a fluid, free, uplifting tone and we see a beautiful connection develop between them. Impasse is a piece that plays its cards close to its chest at times, but also hits on creative and meaningful ways to speak with a dancer’s voice. 

Impasse, Dance Base, until 25 August, 4.05pm.