A ‘life-changing journey’ to the homeland of his ancestors

ENOWATE – TRUTH STANDS

Dickson Mbi shows: Enowate at Kerkrade Theatre

By Thomas Linden 9 April 2025

Life can only unfold in light. Nature develops with the impulses of light and we also need it to be seen as personalities. British dancer Dickson Mbi’s solo ‘Enowate’ – which has now thrilled audiences at the Kerkrade Theatre – shows the effort it takes to fight for the light to become human. He received public attention for this in 2023 when he won the Olivier Award for outstanding achievement in dance. Dickson Mbi grew up in London, but his roots lead back to Cameroon. A cultural tension that affected him as a young man, as demonstrated by his choreography, in which he masterfully combines narration with abstraction. Time and again, Dickson Mbi finds the strong, expressive image. For example, when he lets the voices of the English children and teenagers in the schoolyard or on the football pitch be heard from off-screen, but his body cannot follow the flow of the group because his hand is stuck to the floor.

Dickson-Mbi-Company-GB-ENOWATE©TANZweb.org_Klaus-Dilger

It is an identity story that is told here. Right in the opening sequence, we see this tall black man lying on the floor with his bald skull. He tries to assure himself of his physical presence by groping. The touch of his hand on the stage floor can be heard right through the imposing theatre hall in Kerkrade to the last seat. Here, someone is searching for the individual parts of his body in order to assemble himself as a human creature. The head is not always in control of all the limbs, so the right arm sometimes seems to be asleep and inanimate, only to claw at the left shoulder like a small animal. Dickson Mbi’s mastery of body control is evident not least in such original depictions of physical deficits. His every movement is part of a concept that is entirely in line with his narrative intentions. Although the Brit borrows from hip-hop, he manages to avoid conventional dance figures, instead spelling out his own dance language and reporting on what words are only insufficiently able to communicate. This suffering from an origin that is not clarified and requires an arduous trip into the abysses of humanity forms something like a ground bass in this solo. It can be heard with a throbbing heartbeat, whose threatening restlessness accompanies the actions of the dance.

Dickson-Mbi-Company-GB-ENOWATE©TANZweb.org_Klaus-Dilger

As he says himself, a ‘life-changing journey’ to the homeland of his ancestors, who lived in a village in Cameroon, was the decisive factor for Dickson Mbi in this production. On stage, it looks like a journey into the heart of darkness. Sparse light falls on the shiny, sweaty body, which appears fragmented because only parts of it can be seen at any one time; it is never shown in its entirety. In addition, this muscular man moves along the ten spotlights mounted in the background in swaying rhythms. His head is always lowered, his upper body hanging down, the tips of his fingers touching the ground. Like an animal pacing restlessly back and forth behind its bars, Dickson Mbi creates a nervous dynamic in this way.

But there is redemption. While the choreography initially concentrates on the gravity of the floor, which seems to suck everything in, making every movement seem laboured, the emphasis changes in the finale. ‘Enowate’, the title of Dickson Mbi’s production, translates as “truth stands”, and so the eternally staggering figure suddenly rises to its full height. Dickson Mbi combines the enlightened approach of exploring origins and identity with the mythical energies of a culture in which spirits have a special presence. With digital light paintings, these figures emerge in the darkness, creating the epiphany that turns the hero into a human being. Now all energy strives upwards into the spheres of the ether. Dickson Mbi stands wide-legged in the white threads of light of the spiritually fuelled spectacle. The story, which is complex in terms of dance, is thus given an effective but somewhat lacking finale. What remains is the fascinating presence of a dancer who combines powerful strength with graceful precision. Much can still be expected from Dickson Mbi, who so cleverly knows how to combine a European and African understanding of the world.