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“If you talk about the legendary singer in the nation, it’s akin to referring about a royal figure,” remarks the choreographer. Referred to as the Empress of African Song, Makeba also associated in Greenwich Village with jazz greats like Miles Davis and Duke Ellington. Beginning as a young person sent to work to provide for her relatives in the city, she eventually became a diplomat for the nation, then Guinea’s representative to the United Nations. An outspoken campaigner against segregation, she was married to a activist. Her remarkable life and legacy inspire the choreographer’s new production, Mimi’s Shebeen, set for its UK premiere.

A Fusion of Movement, Sound, and Narration

The show combines dance, live music, and spoken word in a theatrical piece that is not a straightforward biodrama but utilizes her past, particularly her story of exile: after moving to New York in the year, she was prohibited from her homeland for three decades due to her opposition to segregation. Subsequently, she was excluded from the US after wedding activist Stokely Carmichael. The performance resembles a ceremonial tribute, a deconstructed funeral – part eulogy, some festivity, part provocation – with a fabulous vocalist Tutu Puoane leading reviving her music to dynamic existence.

Strength and elegance … Mimi’s Shebeen.

In the country, a shebeen is an under-the-radar venue for home-brewed liquor and animated discussions, often presided over by a host. Her parent Christina was a proprietress who was arrested for producing drinks without permission when Miriam was a newborn. Unable to pay the fine, she went to prison for half a year, bringing her infant with her, which is how Miriam’s eventful life started – just one of the things Seutin learned when studying her story. “Numerous tales!” exclaims Seutin, when they met in Brussels after a show. Her parent is Belgian and she was raised there before relocating to learn and labor in the United Kingdom, where she established her dance group the ensemble. Her South African mother would sing her music, such as the tunes, when she was a child, and dance to them in the home.

Melodies of liberation … the artist performs at Wembley Stadium in 1988.

A ten years back, her parent had cancer and was in hospital in London. “I paused my career for a quarter to look after her and she was constantly requesting Miriam Makeba. She was so happy when we were singing together,” Seutin recalls. “There was ample time to pass at the facility so I started researching.” As well as learning of her victorious homecoming to South Africa in 1990, after the freedom of Nelson Mandela (whom she had encountered when he was a young lawyer in the 1950s), Seutin discovered that Makeba had been a someone who overcame illness in her teens, that her child Bongi passed away in labor in 1985, and that because of her exile she could not be present at her own mother’s memorial. “Observing individuals and you look at their success and you overlook that they are struggling like anyone else,” states Seutin.

Creation and Themes

These reflections contributed to the creation of the production (first staged in Brussels in the year). Fortunately, Seutin’s mother’s treatment was effective, but the concept for the piece was to honor “death, life and mourning”. Within that, Seutin pulls out threads of her life story like memories, and nods more broadly to the theme of uprooting and loss today. While it’s not explicit in the performance, Seutin had in mind a additional character, a modern-day Miriam who is a traveler. “And we gather as these alter egos of characters linked with the icon to greet this young migrant.”

Rhythms of exile … performers in Mimi’s Shebeen.

In the show, rather than being inebriated by the shebeen’s local drink, the skilled performers appear taken over by beat, in harmony with the musicians on stage. Her dance composition incorporates various forms of dance she has learned over the years, including from Rwanda, South Africa and Senegal, plus the global performers’ personal styles, including urban dances like krump.

Honoring strength … Alesandra Seutin.

She was taken aback to find that some of the newer, international in the group were unaware about the artist. (Makeba passed away in the year after having a heart attack on stage in the country.) Why should new audiences discover Mama Africa? “In my view she would inspire young people to stand for what they are, expressing honesty,” remarks Seutin. “However she did it very gracefully. She expressed something meaningful and then perform a lovely melody.” Seutin aimed to adopt the similar method in this work. “Audiences observe dancing and listen to melodies, an element of enjoyment, but intertwined with strong messages and instances that hit. This is what I respect about her. Since if you are shouting too much, people won’t listen. They retreat. But she achieved it in a manner that you would accept it, and understand it, but still be blessed by her talent.”

• The performance is at London, the dates