Dickson Mbi won an Olivier award for his last major dance piece, Enowate, a result that surprised some of us who saw a talented artist still mastering the craft of choreographing a full-length work. But his new one, Tellus, is a much more sure and expressive work that creates a confident, textured world. Plus, Mbi is now not only a choreographer, but also a composer – a skill he honed during the pandemic – and the score is an essential part of the choreography (there are musicians on stage behind the eight performers), full of haunting melody and emotional pull.
The music effectively shapes and enhances the action and speaks with the dance. Tellus is a kind of folk tale about finding hope in a world that’s in environmental turmoil. The gist of the story (you may need to refer to the programme) is of a lost and stumbling central figure, a community struck by fire and drought, and an appeal to a goddess, Mami-Wata, for help.
It draws on Mbi’s Cameroonian heritage, as does the music and the movement, which also takes in Mbi’s roots in hip-hop, with contemporary, South Asian and classical dance seemingly all in the mix. There are flashes of brilliance in the choreography, rousing ritual movement for the group and individuals with strong movement signatures: a spinning, leaping Nathan Goodman; an imperious, tottering Hannah Joseph. Mbi has brought in some expert collaborators, including video designers YeastCulture, who provide a little magic in the visuals.
He has been mentored by Complicité’s Simon McBurney, and worked with poet Nick Drake on the scenario; however, the result is a work of instinct and visceral impact rather than detailed narrative, although the message of reconnecting with our precious Earth is a simple and essential one. At Sadler’s Wells East, London, until 24 October
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