For Lacina Coulibaly’s long-incubated world premiere Until the Lion Tells the Story …, the lion is him. The story that the Burkinabé émigré and longtime Yale dance professor tells is of an Africa “rooted in its own indigenous knowledge,” such as the unit of measurement the ancient Egyptians developed from a drop of Nile water. Their patient analysis “enabled them to understand the fundamental functions of nature,” the choreographer has observed. Yet this new work is by no means a lecture in the form of a dance. Even less is it a harkening back to ancient practice. Though he knows his traditional West African idioms, as a choreographer Coulibaly belongs to the vanguard. Delivered in postmodern shards, the solo is equal parts collective memory and hope. —Apollinaire Scherr