The reviews are in for Tellus, the hour-long dance-theatre piece by Dickson Mbi that had its London premiere at Sadler’s Wells East on 21 October and ran there until 24 October, after an earlier tour this year. Mbi, who also composed the score, built it from the Cameroonian story of the water goddess Mami Wata: a young man, danced by Harvey Burke-Hamilton, survives a drought and a fire and is led back towards the earth his community has neglected. The critics were warm, and in places more than warm. Most single out Burke-Hamilton, who is on stage almost throughout, Hannah Joseph as the goddess, and the score played partly live behind the curtain. The reservations concern the storytelling: several reviewers admit they could not always follow it, and one felt the closing projections tried to do too much.
4.3 / 5 from 5 criticsThe verdict: nine reviews of the London run, five of them with a rating: one five-star notice, one at four and a half and three at four, for an average of 4.3 out of 5 among the critics who score. The Observer, Gramilano, Seeing Dance and the Financial Times give no rating. Almost everyone praises the movement and Mbi’s own music; the doubts, where they come, are about a narrative that stays deliberately vague.
What are critics saying about Tellus?
The Reviews Hub
“They say it’s gonna rain”
Reviewer: Richard Maguire
The most enthusiastic notice of the run, and the only one to give full marks. Maguire compares the scale of the piece to opera:
“Dickson Mbi’s new dance is as grand, tragic and dramatic as any opera.”
He picks out two passages of ensemble choreography as the high points, praises Burke-Hamilton’s stamina across the full hour and calls it one of the dances of the year.
A Young(ish) Perspective
“Dickson Mbi turns a bedtime story into a ceremony of reconnection”
This review dwells on the staging, especially Ruby Law’s curtain of strings and the shadows thrown across it, and on the moment the dancers start to sing the music they move to. It accepts the thin plot as a choice:
“TELLUS is a piece that trusts the body, the voice and the image to carry meaning”
Joseph’s imperious goddess and Nathan Goodman’s leaps both get a mention.
The Guardian
“This mighty cry for a goddess to help Earth proves Dickson Mbi is a bold force in dance”
Reviewer: Lyndsey Winship
Winship had doubts about Mbi’s Olivier-winning Enowate, and finds this a clear step forward:
“…a much more sure and expressive work that creates a confident, textured world.”
She values the score as part of the choreography itself, admits the story may need the programme to follow, and credits the piece with instinct and impact rather than detailed narrative.
London Unattached
“Dickson Mbi’s Rousing New Dance Work at Sadler’s Wells East”
Reviewer: Teresa Guerreiro
A self-confessed admirer of Mbi as a dancer, Guerreiro was sorry he did not perform himself, but says the company of eight carries everything she likes in his own dancing. Her opening line sets the tone:
“Tellus is that rare thing: a stage production whose sophistication doesn’t detract from, but rather enhances, its raw, visceral impact.”
She singles out the long central duet for Burke-Hamilton and Joseph, and the rainstorm projected at the close.
LondonTheatre1
Reviewer: Chris Omaweng
Omaweng is candid that he was not always sure what was happening, and found the outcome predictable even if the route to it was not. He was won over anyway, by the visuals, the dancing and the music:
“Engagement and intrigue run deep in this vivid and vibrant performance.”
The live musicians, he says, add another dimension to the evening.
The Observer
“Dickson Mbi’s shapes of water”
Reviewer: Sarah Crompton
Crompton admires the mix of African, street and contemporary movement, the score for flute, cello and percussion, and a crab-like solo by Burke-Hamilton that she calls astonishing. Her reservation is the one others share:
“It’s clever and intriguing, and sometimes very beautiful, but its meaning is often obscure.”
She concludes that the piece is blurry but the talent behind it is not.
Gramilano
“Tellus – Dickson Mbi’s drought epic thrills but strains for effect”
Reviewer: Lydia Wharf
The most mixed of the notices. Wharf thinks the grief arrives too early to land, regrets that the musicians are hidden again after their reveal, and finds the final run of projections overloaded. Even so, the full-company climax leaves her breathless, and she ends on a positive note:
“…in Tellus, Mbi and his team have created a truly exhilarating experience.”
Seeing Dance
Reviewer: Maggie Foyer
Foyer sees the piece as a step up in Mbi’s choreography and calls the whole show top quality. She praises Burke-Hamilton’s near-constant presence and Joseph’s goddess, and does not mind the lack of a spelled-out story:
“The narrative is never explicit, but the message comes across clearly in movement that is fluid, powerful and astonishingly beautiful.”
Lee Curran’s lighting and YeastCulture’s projections get credit too.
Production photographs by RULA.
Also reviewed by: the Financial Times (“Dickson Mbi’s Tellus reworks a Cameroonian fairytale into a climate change fable”), whose review sits behind a paywall.
For more dance from this autumn, read our roundups of Acosta Danza: Cuban Baroque and London City Ballet’s Firebird double bill at Sadler’s Wells, and of Jess & Morgs: Deepfake, which also played Sadler’s Wells East.
Tellus played at Sadler’s Wells East on 21-24 October 2026.
For more information, visit the official website.
