THE STRENGTH OF THE STAGE: TORI DEY AT THE HEART OF SCIENTIFIC CONFERENCES

Written by Ayafor Leonel

From Douala to Uganda, South Africa, Limbe, and Nairobi, a quiet revolution is sweeping across the opening ceremonies of scientific conferences in Africa. This revolution doesn’t begin with keynote speakers or PowerPoint presentations. It begins with powerful words, theatre and storytelling performances brought to life by artists from the slums of the host countries. These performances are not merely artistic displays, but dynamic, breathing reflections of Africa’s hopes, struggles, and spirit. They embody the ancient and transformative power of storytelling, reimagined as a bridge between research and lived experience.

What has inspired the eBASE Africa team the most is this: taking children and artists from the margins of society and placing them at the center of evidence conversations, thus bridging the gap between science and community.

DOUALA: THE MALARIA SPARK OF CONNECTION

In Douala, Cameroon, the country’s vibrant economic hub, the stage came alive in a local neighborhood known as Lendi. Under the guidance of the Tori Dey storytelling concept, the performance titled Nets marked the beginning of this theatrical revolution. It combined light, sound, spoken word, dance, and environmental movement to convey the importance of using mosquito nets in preventing malaria.

Far from being a passive presentation, Nets turned the audience into emotionally engaged participants. It reminded attendees that behind every statistic is a human story, and behind every research paper, a lived experience.

UGANDA: WHERE DATA MEETS DRAMA

At the African Evidence Network Conference, #EVIDENCE2023 in Entebbe, Uganda, the Tori Dey performance found a new rhythm. The opening ceremony fused scientific evaluation with traditional dance, poetry, visual art, spoken word, and oral narratives. This theatrical blend transformed complex evidence into relatable human stories.

This was more than a performance. It served as a tool for participatory evaluation, sparking conversations between storytellers and researchers about how art can support knowledge translation. It was here that the idea of a continental storytelling network for conferences first took root.

SOUTH AFRICA: BRIDGING THE GAP BETWEEN RESEARCH AND REAL-WORLD OUTCOMES

In Cape Town, South Africa, during the Transforming Evidence Network (TEN) Conference 2024, the performance focused on showcasing the role of storytelling in bringing researchers, policymakers, and communities together. With a focus on education and innovation, the piece reflected how academics, funders, and practitioners could collaborate to close the gap between research and real-world impact.

Audience members, especially policymakers, reported feeling deeply connected to the issues presented. Data came alive. Academic barriers dissolved. The performance translated science into action through empathy.

LIMBE, CAMEROON: TRANSFORMING EDUCATION THROUGH TOREY DEY

At the Education Indaba (EIC) 2025, in Limbe-Cameroon, organized by eBASE Africa, the team had the opportunity to go deeper. Here, community storytellers were not just performers, they were co-creators. Their personal experiences shaped the narratives from the ground up.

This approach ensured a genuine community-scientist dialogue. Researchers and artists shared space, perspectives, and insights. It wasn’t just about performance; it was about co-producing meaning from data. The result was storytelling rooted in both evidence and real-life perspectives on education.

NAIROBI, KENYA: A VISION OF STORYTELLING MOVEMENTS WITH YOUTH FROM THE SLUMS

At the Cochrane Africa Indaba 2025 in Nairobi, the journey reached a new height. Here, Cameroonian and Kenyan storytellers blended their cultural backgrounds in a vibrant, cross-cultural performance. The storytellers from Kibera, one of Nairobi’s largest slums, expressed deep inspiration from the scientists present. Many remarked on how the scientific approach to solving problems offered insights they hoped to integrate into their own art.

The performance demonstrated that science can inspire storytelling just as storytelling can illuminate science.

COLLABORATIVE THEATRE AS A TOOL FOR CONFERENCES

These storytelling performances go beyond aesthetics. They create cross-sectoral, multilingual platforms of knowledge exchange. Using narrative arc mapping and symbolic dramaturgy, they frame complex issues in ways that resonate widely.

Tori Dey theatre serves as a decolonized tool for knowledge translation in the scientific space. Each performance becomes a site for mutual learning, cross-cultural dialogue, and the reimagination of African science communication through art.

THEATRE IN SCIENTIFIC SPACES: BRINGING DATA TO LIFE

Theatre in scientific environments has proven one thing: storytelling and science are not opposites. They are complementary. Theatre gives voice to the voiceless, emotion to evidence, and context to charts. It helps audiences not just understand the issues, but feel them.

Tori Dey performances also support evaluation. Through audience feedback and structured dialogue, they validate community insights and enhance understanding. Data retention is also improved, thanks to the multisensory engagement of storytelling.

Through these performances:

Researchers engage with communities on a deeper level
Abstract ideas become grounded in lived realities
Cross-disciplinary collaboration is encouraged
Youth storytellers gain platforms for expression
Community experiences rise to the stage of scientific dialogue
 

TOWARDS A NEW SCIENTIFIC NARRATIVE

The emergence of storytelling in scientific convenings is helping rewrite Africa’s research narrative, not through reports alone, but through voices, movement, and shared experiences.

From Douala to Nairobi, the vision is becoming clearer: a continent where science is communicated, critiqued, and co-created through the power of a story.

To sustain this movement, investment is needed:

To train artists in science communication and evidence translation
To establish storytelling hubs linked to research institutions
To embed artistic methodologies into national evaluation frameworks
To support documentation and impact research on arts-based knowledge dissemination
To create a global network of evidence-based storytellers
“When the story leads, the data follows. When communities see themselves on stage, they recognize their role in the solution.”