Contemporary dance piece by Dickson Mbi inspired by his Cameroonian heritage and the deity Mami Wata, about a young person and a drought-stricken village.
Dickson Mbi brings TELLUS to the Norwich Theatre Royal on Friday 4 June 2027, at 7:30 pm. It's a dance piece that Mbi wrote and choreographed, and he's performing it with eight dancers of global heritage. He also composed the score himself.
The whole thing started with a simple, personal place: Mbi wanted to tell his son a bedtime story drawn from his Cameroonian heritage and inspired by the mythical deity Mami Wata. From there it grew into a full stage production. The story follows a young person disconnected from Mother Earth who is thrust into a village suffering a devastating drought, and guided by a Goddess to the truth that humanity has forgotten how to worship and protect the land. It runs about 70 minutes with no interval, and it's recommended for ages seven and over.
There's a fair bit of weight behind it, too. TELLUS was co-commissioned by Sadler's Wells Theatre, schrit_tmacher Festival NL and DanceEast as a DanceEast Jerwood Commission, and it's a 'Developed with Complicité' project that won critical acclaim. Mbi co-wrote it with poet Nick Drake and was mentored by Simon McBurney, so it's a collaboration that reaches across dance, poetry and theatre.
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Tickets start from £15.90, and the performance is at 7:30 pm at the Norwich Theatre Royal on 4 June.
