Bridging Ancient Myth and Ecological Urgency: Dickson Mbi’s TELLUS Arrives at Sadler’s Wells East

Executive Overview

Raising a child in an era defined by overlapping socio-ecological crises presents a profound philosophical and emotional challenge for modern parents. How does one communicate the staggering complexity of planetary degradation, political instability, and fractured ecosystems to the next generation without descending into despair or distorting the truth? For Olivier Award-winning dancer, choreographer, and composer Dickson Mbi, the answer emerged during a quiet, universal parenting ritual: trying to put his young son to sleep.

Contemplating the state of the modern world while gazing at his sleeping child, Mbi found solace and guidance not in contemporary panic-inducing headlines, but in the timeless oral traditions of his childhood—the folk stories narrated by his parents. These ancient narratives formed the conceptual bedrock of TELLUS, an ambitious, multidisciplinary ensemble production that investigates humanity’s fractured relationship with the natural world.

Running from October 21 to October 24 at Sadler’s Wells East, TELLUS weaves together cutting-edge contemporary dance, traditional African folklore, and a culturally expansive, live-performed immersive score. Co-written with celebrated poet Nick Drake and developed under the mentorship of Complicité artistic director Simon McBurney, the production marks a pivotal milestone in Mbi’s career. Following his 2023 Olivier Award triumph for the critically acclaimed solo work Enowate, TELLUS represents Mbi’s first large-scale ensemble piece for his own company. By staging this epic narrative of climate change, ancestral memory, and ecological stewardship in East London—a community Mbi proudly calls home—the production cements his status as one of the most innovative and socially conscious voices in contemporary British dance.

Detailed Chronology: From Bedtime Contemplations to the Sadler’s Wells Stage

The genesis of TELLUS traces back to a deeply personal juncture in Dickson Mbi’s life, evolving over several years of creative gestation, collaborative refinement, and rigorous physical exploration.

Phase One: Conception and the Ancestral Spark (2021–2022)

The conceptual framework of TELLUS crystallized during a period of intense global reflection following the COVID-19 pandemic and the escalating visibility of climate change emergencies. Mbi, fresh off the development of his Olivier Award-winning solo piece Enowate (co-commissioned by Sadler’s Wells and the Barbican), found himself grappling with how to articulate the Anthropocene to his son. Bedtime stories from his Cameroonian heritage resurfaced in his consciousness. Mbi realized that traditional folklore—often dismissed as mere children’s entertainment—actually served as sophisticated frameworks for ancestral wisdom, ecological warning, and moral responsibility.

Phase Two: Collaborative Architecture and Literary Shaping (2022–2023)

Recognizing the need to translate these sprawling mythological concepts into a coherent theatrical language, Mbi enlisted the expertise of poet and librettist Nick Drake. Their collaborative sessions involved deconstructing traditional myths, particularly those surrounding water deities like Mami Wata, and rebuilding them into a narrative structure relevant to the 21st-century climate crisis. Simultaneously, Mbi sought the mentorship of Simon McBurney, founder of the boundary-pushing theatre company Complicité. McBurney’s influence helped Mbi shape the production’s non-linear narrative, pushing the physical vocabulary of the dancers to merge psychological depth with visceral, narrative-driven choreography.

Phase Three: Movement, Sound, and Cultural Synthesis (2023–2024)

With the narrative architecture in place, Mbi embarked on an intensive studio phase to build the physical and sonic world of TELLUS. Drawing from his diverse background—which spans street dance styles like popping and hip-hop to classical contemporary dance and traditional African movement forms—Mbi trained an elite ensemble of dancers to master a hybrid physical lexicon. Concurrently, Mbi composed the production’s original score. Eschewing a conventional Western orchestral model, he curated a sonic landscape anchored by emotive African vocal traditions and resonant Chinese percussion, designed to be performed live on stage to ensure an energetic, breathing connection between musicians and dancers.

Phase Four: The East London Premiere (October 2024)

The culmination of this multi-year creative journey arrives at Sadler’s Wells East, the newly established cultural powerhouse situated within the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park. For Mbi, staging TELLUS in East London is deeply symbolic. As an artist who has spent decades navigating and shaping the UK’s dance ecosystem, bringing his first company-led ensemble production to the East End represents a homecoming—a sharing of an epic, myth-inflected global story with a vibrant, multicultural local audience.

Supporting Context & Metrics: The Artistic and Ecological Landscape

To fully understand the weight of TELLUS, one must examine the intersection of Dickson Mbi’s career trajectory, the burgeoning movement of eco-theatre, and the socio-cultural significance of Sadler’s Wells East.

Dickson Mbi: A Portrait of an Ascendant Creator

Dickson Mbi’s rise within the British dance scene is a masterclass in versatility and artistic fearlessness. Originally rising to prominence as an elite street dancer—collaborating with artists like Russell Maliphant, Boy Blue Entertainment, and the Royal Opera House—Mbi seamlessly bridged the gap between underground street culture and institutional contemporary dance.

The Mythological Framework: Mami Wata and the Drought-Stricken Village

At the heart of TELLUS is a narrative inspired by Cameroonian heritage and ancient water mythologies. The story follows a young protagonist thrust into a village suffering from a catastrophic, unnatural drought. In African traditional belief systems, water deities such as Mami Wata command immense reverence, representing both life-giving abundance and destructive fury when humanity falls out of harmony with nature.

In the production, the young boy encounters an Old Lady who metamorphoses into a divine entity. Through this guidance, the protagonist realizes that the drought is not merely a meteorological anomaly, but a symptom of human hubris—a collective amnesia regarding humanity’s duty to nurture and respect the Earth. The journey that follows is an urgent quest to restore cosmic and ecological balance.

Sonic and Physical Hybridity

The production’s aesthetic mirrors its thematic exploration of interconnectedness. Mbi refuses to compartmentalize dance styles or musical genres. By fusing the concussive energy of grime and hip-hop with the fluid articulation of contemporary contemporary dance and the earth-bound rhythms of traditional African movement, the choreography physicalizes the friction and harmony between modern urban existence and ancestral heritage.

Musically, the integration of African vocalizations and Chinese percussion creates a cross-cultural dialogue. This sonic architecture underscores the universality of the climate crisis: ecological degradation is not isolated to a single region, but affects the global commons, requiring a chorus of diverse cultural voices to address it.

Official Statements and Artistic Insights

In recent interviews and production notes, Dickson Mbi and his collaborators have shed light on the philosophical underpinnings and collaborative ethos driving TELLUS.

Reflecting on the emotional catalyst for the project, Dickson Mbi explained:

"When you are holding your child, looking into a future that feels so unstable, you search for anchors. Modern news cycles paralyze us with data and doom. But folk stories—stories handed down through generations—have a unique power. They bypass cynicism and speak directly to the human spirit. With TELLUS, I wanted to ask: How do we remember what we have chosen to forget? How do we look back at our ancestral relationship with the land so we can find a way forward?"

Discussing the transition from his award-winning solo work to a large-scale ensemble piece, Mbi noted the unique challenges of scaling his vision:

"Moving from Enowate to TELLUS was like shifting from writing a confidential diary entry to composing an opera. I needed a cast that could embody complex emotional states while executing highly rigorous, hybrid choreography. Working alongside Nick Drake and having the mentorship of Simon McBurney allowed me to structure a narrative that is epic in scale yet deeply intimate in its emotional core."

Co-writer Nick Drake emphasized the contemporary relevance of the production’s mythological roots:

"Myths are not relics of the past; they are diagnostic tools for the present. By engaging with figures like Mami Wata, we are tapping into archetypes that remind us of our complete dependence on the natural world. TELLUS is not an environmental lecture disguised as art; it is a visceral, poetic journey into our collective conscience and our shared responsibilities as stewards of this planet."

Future Outlook: The Legacy of TELLUS and the Evolution of Eco-Dance

As TELLUS makes its world-class debut at Sadler’s Wells East, its trajectory points toward a broader transformation within the performing arts sector. The production arrives at a critical juncture where arts institutions are increasingly challenged to address the climate emergency not just through operational sustainability, but through substantive thematic engagement.

1. Catalysing Ecological Conversations Through Movement

Dance, as a non-verbal medium, possesses a unique capacity to communicate visceral urgency that spoken word or journalism sometimes struggles to reach. By physicalizing concepts like drought, restoration, ancestral memory, and ecological stewardship, TELLUS provides audiences with an emotional entry point into climate discourse. Industry analysts anticipate that the production will inspire a new wave of narrative-driven eco-choreography across European and international stages.

2. The Cultural Impact of Sadler’s Wells East

The staging of TELLUS at Sadler’s Wells East further solidifies the venue’s reputation as a dynamic hub for cutting-edge, culturally diverse performance art. Located in the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park, Sadler’s Wells East is designed to engage new, younger, and more diverse audiences who may not traditionally frequent West End cultural institutions. By platforming Mbi’s blend of Cameroonian heritage, street dance lineage, and classical contemporary forms, the venue underscores its commitment to representing the multifaceted cultural fabric of modern Britain.

3. International Touring and Educational Outreach

Following its London premiere from October 21–24, TELLUS is positioned for an extensive national and international touring schedule. Furthermore, the production’s thematic depth lends itself naturally to educational workshops and community engagement initiatives. By introducing young people to the intersection of folklore, environmentalism, and physical theatre, Mbi and his company are actively cultivating the very generation of conscious stewards that inspired the work in the first place.

In TELLUS, Dickson Mbi has transcended the personal anxieties of modern parenthood to forge a universal work of art. By marrying the ancestral wisdom of folklore with the pressing realities of the climate crisis, the production offers audiences a rare theatrical experience: one that stares unflinchingly into the fractures of our current condition while lighting a path toward ecological and spiritual restoration.