Dickson Mbi's Tellus confirms a choreographer now in full command

Dickson Mbi's new full-length work Tellus opened at Sadler's Wells East in London and runs until 24 October. The choreographer won an Olivier award for his previous major piece, Enowate, a result that surprised some observers who had watched a talented artist still mastering the craft of full-length choreography. His new work answers that doubt directly.

Tellus marks a shift in Mbi's practice on two fronts. He is now not only a choreographer but also a composer — a skill the review notes he honed during the pandemic — and the score stands as an essential part of the choreography rather than an accompaniment to it. Musicians perform on stage behind the eight dancers. The music, described as full of haunting melody and emotional pull, shapes and enhances the action and, in the reviewer's phrasing, speaks with the dance.

What is Tellus about?

The work functions as a kind of folk tale about finding hope in a world in environmental turmoil. The gist of the story — one the review suggests may require consulting the programme — involves:

• A lost and stumbling central figure
• A community struck by fire and drought
• An appeal to the goddess Mami-Wata for help

The narrative draws on Mbi's Cameroonian heritage, and so do the music and the movement. The choreographic language is deliberately wide: Mbi's roots in hip-hop sit alongside contemporary, South Asian and classical dance, all seemingly present in the mix.

The evening's strongest moments come from the ensemble and from dancers with distinct movement signatures. Nathan Goodman spins and leaps; Hannah Joseph moves with an imperious, tottering quality. The group passages build into rousing ritual movement, and the review identifies flashes of brilliance throughout the choreography.

What does this change for Mbi's standing?

The review's verdict is that Tellus is a much more sure and expressive work than Enowate, one that creates a confident, textured world. Where the Olivier-winning earlier piece left room to question whether Mbi had fully mastered long-form choreography, the new work consolidates the promise. The added role of composer tightens his control over the whole evening: sound and movement are built as one system, not layered separately.

The practical caveat is the narrative itself. The story of the stumbling figure, the drought-stricken community and the appeal to Mami-Wata is not always legible from the stage alone, and the programme note carries real explanatory weight. Viewers who want the folk tale as a story, rather than as an atmosphere, should read before the lights go down.

Tellus runs at Sadler's Wells East, London, until 24 October. For a choreographer still early in his full-length career, a second work this assured — with an original score to match — positions Mbi as a bold force in British dance.