Dickson Mbi is known as a dancer of power, grace, finesse and charisma. He’s worked with Russell Maliphant as well as Robbie Williams, spanning contemporary and commercial dance and the competitive popping scene. But this latest solo, his first work on the Sadler’s Wells main stage, is something else altogether.
Enowate (meaning “truth stands”) comes out of a trip Mbi made from east London, where he grew up, to his ancestral home in Cameroon. It was clearly a meaningful, transformative journey, but much of that is internal in this somewhat drawn-out hour-long piece. It starts with a glimpse of London life, the mood stressful, restless. There’s a flashback to the school playground, Mbi finding his place with his football skills (he played for West Ham as an under-16), and a clever, if extended, sequence of him miming keepy-uppy and lobbing the ball into the audience – those moments where he makes eye contact confirm that charisma is still intact.
He leaves on his journey in search of home and self, the stage pitch-black with mystery. His body turns animalistic, it prowls and scuttles, a hand (or claw) emerging from the darkness (these themes are apparently nods to funeral rites he witnessed). A lot of time is spent as a four-legged creature, head bent low, we just see the muscles of his back rippling under his skin as he edges across the stage. It’s a very slow build, a lot of darkness to find the light. When he stands, just listening to the voice of South African singer Ntunja, you sense the healing begins to happen.
Although that precision delineation of movement is there, we don’t see much of what we know Mbi can do as a dancer – it’s fair enough, of course, that he doesn’t have to conform to expectations. Easily the most arresting element is the brilliant projections by animators Yeast Culture, who worked on Akram Khan’s Desh (visual artists Warren Du Preez and Nick Thornton Jones are also credited). The ending is glorious, Mbi caught in a vortex of billowing strings, embraced by a spectral figure, glowing like a superhero recharging, endowed with powers, or perhaps enlightenment in this case. It’s worth waiting for.
