Olivier-award-winning choreographer Dickson Mbi opens a new dance piece that weaves together his Cameroonian heritage with environmental storytelling at Sadler's Wells East in London.
Tellus runs until 24 October and marks a step forward for Mbi, who won an Olivier for his previous major work, Enowate. The new piece shows greater confidence and textural depth than his earlier full-length choreography, according to the Guardian's review.
Mbi now works as both choreographer and composer. He developed his compositional skills during the pandemic. The score sits at the heart of Tellus, with live musicians performing on stage alongside eight dancers. The music and movement operate as one entity, with the score shaping and enhancing the action.
The work draws inspiration from folk narrative and centres on themes of environmental crisis. Mbi frames the story through a lost, stumbling central figure, a community ravaged by fire and drought, and a community's appeal to Mami-Wata, a goddess figure, for aid.
The choreography blends multiple traditions. Hip-hop forms the foundation of Mbi's practice. The piece also incorporates contemporary, South Asian and classical dance styles. Performers including Nathan Goodman, who delivers spinning and leaping sequences, and Hannah Joseph, whose movement reads as imperious and tottering, carry distinct physical signatures within the ensemble's ritual movements.
The programme notes provide context needed to follow the narrative arc. Mbi's Cameroonian roots inform not only the dance vocabulary but also the music and thematic concerns, grounding the work in a specific cultural landscape while addressing universal questions about survival and hope amid ecological upheaval.