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“When you speak about the legendary singer in the nation, it’s akin to referring about a queen,” explains Alesandra Seutin. Referred to as the Empress of African Song, the iconic artist additionally spent time in Greenwich Village with renowned musicians like Miles Davis and Duke Ellington. Starting as a teenager dispatched to labor to support her family in the city, she later served as an envoy for Ghana, then the country’s representative to the UN. An outspoken anti-apartheid activist, she was the wife to a activist. Her remarkable story and impact motivate Seutin’s new production, Mimi’s Shebeen, scheduled for its British debut.

A Blend of Movement, Sound, and Narration

The show combines dance, live music, and oral storytelling in a stage work that isn’t a simple biography but draws on Makeba’s history, especially her story of exile: after relocating to New York in the year, she was barred from South Africa for 30 years due to her opposition to segregation. Subsequently, she was excluded from the US after marrying Black Panther activist her spouse. The performance is like a ceremonial tribute, a reimagined memorial – some praise, part celebration, part provocation – with the exceptional South African singer Tutu Puoane leading bringing Makeba’s songs to dynamic existence.

Strength and elegance … Mimi’s Shebeen.

In the country, a shebeen is an under-the-radar gathering place for locally made drinks and lively conversation, often managed by a host. Her parent the matriarch was a shebeen queen who was arrested for producing drinks without permission when Miriam was 18 days old. Incapable of covering the penalty, she went to prison for six months, bringing her infant with her, which is how Miriam’s remarkable journey started – just one of the details the choreographer learned when studying Makeba’s life. “Numerous tales!” exclaims Seutin, when we meet in the city after a show. Her father is Belgian and she was raised there before relocating to learn and labor in the United Kingdom, where she founded her company the ensemble. Her parent would sing Makeba’s songs, such as the tunes, when she was a youngster, and dance to them in the home.

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

A ten years back, her parent had the illness and was in medical care in the city. “I stopped working for three months to take care of her and she was always requesting Miriam Makeba. She was so happy when we were singing together,” Seutin remembers. “There was ample time to pass at the facility so I started researching.” In addition to reading about Makeba’s triumphant return to South Africa in 1990, 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 breast cancer survivor in her teens, that Makeba’s daughter the girl passed away in childbirth in the year, and that because of her banishment she hadn’t been able to attend her own mother’s memorial. “Observing individuals and you look at their success and you overlook that they are struggling like everyone,” says the choreographer.

Development and Themes

These reflections went into 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 work was to celebrate “loss, existence, and grief”. In this context, she pulls out threads of Makeba’s biography like memories, and references more broadly to the theme of uprooting and loss today. While it’s not overt in the show, she had in mind a additional character, a contemporary version who is a traveler. “Together, we assemble as these alter egos of personas connected to the icon to greet this young migrant.”

Melodies of banishment … musicians in Mimi’s Shebeen.

In the show, rather than being intoxicated by the shebeen’s home-brew, the skilled dancers appear possessed by beat, in harmony with the musicians on the platform. Seutin’s dance composition includes multiple styles of dance she has absorbed over the years, including from African nations, plus the international cast’ personal styles, including urban dances like krump.

Honoring strength … Alesandra Seutin.

She was surprised to find that some of the younger, non-South Africans in the cast were unaware about the artist. (Makeba died in 2008 after having a heart attack on the platform in the country.) Why should younger generations learn about Mama Africa? “In my view she would motivate the youth to stand for what they believe in, expressing honesty,” remarks Seutin. “But she accomplished this very elegantly. She’d say something poignant and then sing a beautiful song.” She aimed to take the similar method in this production. “We see dancing and listen to melodies, an aspect of enjoyment, but mixed with strong messages and instances that hit. This is what I admire about Miriam. Since if you are being overly loud, people won’t listen. They back away. Yet she did it in a way that you would receive it, and understand it, but still be graced by her talent.”

• The performance is at London, the dates