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“When you speak about the legendary singer in South Africa, it’s akin to referring about a queen,” explains the choreographer. Known as Mama Africa, Makeba additionally associated in New York with renowned musicians like prominent artists. Beginning as a young person dispatched to labor to support her family in Johannesburg, she eventually served as an envoy for Ghana, then the country’s representative to the UN. An outspoken campaigner against segregation, she was married to a activist. This rich life and legacy inspire Seutin’s new production, the performance, set for its British debut.

The Blend of Dance, Music, and Spoken Word

Mimi’s Shebeen combines movement, instrumental performances, and oral storytelling in a stage work that isn’t a straightforward biodrama but utilizes her past, especially her experience of banishment: after moving to New York in 1959, Makeba was barred from South Africa for three decades due to her anti-apartheid stance. Later, she was excluded from the United States after marrying activist her spouse. The show is like a ceremonial tribute, a reimagined memorial – some praise, some festivity, part provocation – with a fabulous South African singer Tutu Puoane at the centre reviving her music to vibrant life.

Strength and elegance … Mimi’s Shebeen.

In the country, a informal gathering spot is an under-the-radar venue for home-brewed liquor and lively conversation, often managed by a shebeen queen. Her parent the matriarch was a proprietress who was arrested for producing drinks without permission when Miriam was a newborn. Unable to pay the penalty, she went to prison for six months, bringing her infant with her, which is how her eventful life started – just one of the things the choreographer discovered when researching Makeba’s life. “So many stories!” exclaims she, when we meet in Brussels after a performance. Her father is from Belgium and she was raised there before relocating to learn and labor in the United Kingdom, where she founded her company Vocab Dance. Her parent would sing her music, such as the tunes, when she was a child, and move along in the living room.

Songs of freedom … Miriam Makeba performs at the venue in the year.

A ten years back, her parent had cancer and was in hospital in the city. “I paused my career for three months to take care of her and she was always requesting Miriam Makeba. It delighted her when we were singing together,” Seutin remembers. “There was ample time to kill at the facility so I began investigating.” In addition to learning of Makeba’s triumphant return to South Africa in the year, after the freedom of Nelson Mandela (whom she had encountered when he was a legal professional in the era), she found that she had been a someone who overcame illness in her youth, that her child Bongi died in childbirth in the year, and that because of her exile she hadn’t been able to be present at her parent’s memorial. “Observing individuals and you look at their success and you overlook that they are struggling like anyone else,” says the choreographer.

Development and Concepts

All these thoughts went into the creation of the production (first staged in Brussels in the year). Fortunately, Seutin’s mother’s therapy was effective, but the concept for the piece was to honor “death, life and mourning”. In this context, Seutin highlights elements of Makeba’s biography like memories, and references more broadly to the idea of displacement and dispossession today. While it’s not overt in the show, she had in mind a additional character, a modern-day Miriam who is a migrant. “And we gather as these alter egos of personas linked with Miriam Makeba to welcome this newcomer.”

Melodies of banishment … performers in the show.

In the show, rather than being inebriated by the shebeen’s home-brew, the skilled dancers appear possessed by beat, in synthesis with the musicians on stage. Her dance composition incorporates multiple styles of dance she has absorbed over the time, including from African nations, plus the global performers’ personal styles, including street styles like krump.

Honoring strength … Alesandra Seutin.

Seutin was surprised to find that some of the newer, international in the group didn’t already know about the artist. (Makeba passed away in the year after having a cardiac event on the platform in Italy.) Why should younger generations discover the legend? “In my view she would motivate the youth to advocate what they are, expressing honesty,” remarks Seutin. “But she did it very gracefully. She’d say something meaningful and then perform a beautiful song.” Seutin wanted to adopt the similar method in this production. “We see dancing and listen to melodies, an aspect of enjoyment, but intertwined with strong messages and moments that resonate. That’s what I respect about Miriam. Since if you are shouting too much, people won’t listen. They retreat. Yet she did it in a manner that you would accept it, and understand it, but still be graced by her ability.”

• Mimi’s Shebeen is at London, the dates