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“When you speak about Miriam Makeba in the nation, it’s akin to referring about a royal figure,” explains Alesandra Seutin. Called the Empress of African Song, the iconic artist additionally spent time in Greenwich Village with renowned musicians like prominent artists. Beginning as a teenager dispatched to labor to support her family in the city, she later became a diplomat for Ghana, then the country’s representative to the UN. An vocal campaigner against segregation, she was married to a activist. This rich life and legacy inspire the choreographer’s latest work, Mimi’s Shebeen, set for its British debut.

A Blend of Movement, Sound, and Narration

The show merges dance, live music, and spoken word in a theatrical piece that is not a simple biography but utilizes Makeba’s history, especially her experience of banishment: after moving to the city in the year, she was prohibited from her homeland for 30 years due to her anti-apartheid stance. Later, she was banned from the US after marrying activist her spouse. The performance is like a ritual of remembrance, a reimagined memorial – part eulogy, some festivity, some challenge – with the exceptional vocalist the performer leading reviving her music to dynamic existence.

Power and poise … the production.

In the country, a shebeen is an under-the-radar gathering place for locally made drinks and animated discussions, usually managed by a host. Makeba’s mother the matriarch was a shebeen queen who was arrested for producing drinks without permission when Makeba was 18 days old. Unable to pay the penalty, Christina went to prison for six months, bringing her baby with her, which is how her remarkable journey started – just one of the details Seutin discovered when researching Makeba’s life. “Numerous tales!” exclaims she, when we meet in the city after a performance. Seutin’s parent is Belgian and she was raised there before relocating to study and work in the UK, where she established her dance group Vocab Dance. Her parent would sing Makeba’s songs, such as the tunes, when Seutin was a child, and dance to them in the home.

Songs of freedom … Miriam Makeba sings at Wembley Stadium in the year.

A decade ago, her parent had cancer and was in hospital in the city. “I paused my career for a quarter to look after her and she was constantly asking for Miriam Makeba. It delighted her when we were performing as one,” she remembers. “I had so much time to kill at the hospital so I began investigating.” As well as learning of her victorious homecoming to the nation in the year, after the release of Nelson Mandela (whom she had encountered when he was a young lawyer in the 1950s), she discovered that she had been a someone who overcame illness in her youth, that her child Bongi passed away in childbirth in 1985, and that due to her exile she hadn’t been able to be present at her parent’s funeral. “You see people and you focus on their achievements and you forget that they are struggling like everyone,” says the choreographer.

Creation and Themes

All these thoughts contributed to the creation of the production (premiered in Brussels in 2023). Fortunately, her parent’s treatment was effective, but the idea for the work was to honor “loss, existence, and grief”. Within that, she pulls out threads of Makeba’s biography like flashbacks, and nods more broadly to the idea of displacement and dispossession today. Although it’s not overt in the performance, she had in mind a additional character, a modern-day Miriam who is a traveler. “Together, we assemble as these other selves of characters connected to Miriam Makeba to greet this newcomer.”

Melodies of banishment … performers in the show.

In the show, rather than being inebriated by the shebeen’s home-brew, the multi-talented dancers appear possessed by beat, in harmony with the musicians on the platform. Seutin’s dance composition incorporates multiple styles of dance she has learned over the time, including from African nations, plus the global performers’ personal styles, including urban dances like the form.

Honoring strength … the creator.

She was taken aback to find that some of the younger, non-South Africans in the group were unaware about the artist. (Makeba passed away in 2008 after having a heart attack on the platform in Italy.) Why should younger generations learn about the legend? “In my view she would motivate young people to stand for what they are, speaking the truth,” remarks Seutin. “However she did it very gracefully. She’d say something poignant and then perform a lovely melody.” She aimed to adopt the similar method in this work. “We see dancing and listen to beautiful songs, an aspect of enjoyment, but mixed with powerful ideas and moments that resonate. That’s what I admire about Miriam. Because if you are shouting too much, people may ignore. They back away. Yet she did it in a way that you would receive it, and understand it, but still be blessed by her ability.”

• The performance is at London, 22-24 October