“How long does it take to correct a mistake?” asks the dancer, reading from a diagnostic report. For Leicester-based choreographer Aakash Odedra, whose own experience with dyslexia inspired him, Little MurmurIt took more than a decade: he was 21 when he realized he had misspelled his own name.

This compact but powerful contemporary dance work, created in collaboration with South Australian choreographer Lewis Major, is the younger sibling of Odedra’s full-length production from 2014. Marbles 2.0The band is currently touring Australia and is keen to share their message with school groups and young people.

Little Murmur is a solo piece performed here by Subhash Viman Gorania, who takes us through the emotional phases that come with the experience of navigating “a world that is difficult to process”, maintaining his elegance and precision throughout.

Reading the report with his diagnosis, he initially seems to move as if compelled from outside, his steps reminiscent of the repetition of memorization. Later, Gorania kicks and jabs in a light-footed sparring match with a digital animation, adept at timing his steps to create the impression of seamless interaction with the projections that appear on white sheets of paper in the center of the stage.

After recounting how he found the missing “A” in his name and the sense of control it gave him, the performer’s movements take on a classic, clockwork-like smoothness. As he uses his hands to outline the lines and sharp angles of the letter, he could almost be an orchestra conductor. In fact, it is often Gorania’s expressive hands that draw attention throughout the performance, as they twist and flutter like starlings or sheets of paper in the wind.

For most of the show he dances in a ring of electric fans. After a stirring sequence in which white scraps of paper fall from the ceiling faster than an excited Gorania can catch them, the fans suddenly turn on, whipping the fallen leaves into a dancing whirlwind or murmuration (the collective term for a flock of starlings). It’s a simple but clever staging, and it works beautifully. The final image of the dancer swirling amid the paper blizzard is unforgettable.

The soundscape of Little Murmur is varied, ranging from gentle strings to percussive mechanical beats to the singing of murmuring voices. Moments of complete silence are also used to great effect in particularly poignant scenes, while bright spotlights on the performer evoke the fear of an ongoing investigation.

For students, this work is an exciting and accessible introduction to contemporary dance and the topics covered here. But you don’t necessarily have to go to school to learn about Little Murmuror to gain a new perspective on life with learning difficulties.

Little Murmur, presented by Aakash Odedra Company, Lewis Major and The Spark Arts for Children, runs from 21 to 24 August at the Space Theatre, Adelaide Festival Centre.