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“If you talk about Miriam Makeba in the nation, it’s similar to talking about a sovereign,” explains Alesandra Seutin. Called Mama Africa, Makeba also spent time in New York with jazz greats like prominent artists. Beginning as a teenager sent to work to provide for her relatives in Johannesburg, she later served as an envoy for the nation, then the country’s official delegate to the UN. An vocal campaigner against segregation, she was married to a activist. Her remarkable life and legacy inspire Seutin’s new production, Mimi’s Shebeen, scheduled for its British debut.

The Blend of Movement, Sound, and Narration

Mimi’s Shebeen combines dance, instrumental performances, and oral storytelling in a stage work that isn’t a straightforward biodrama but draws on her past, especially her story of exile: after relocating to the city in 1959, Makeba was prohibited from her homeland for 30 years due to her anti-apartheid stance. Later, she was excluded from the United States after marrying activist her spouse. The performance is like a ceremonial tribute, a deconstructed funeral – some praise, some festivity, part provocation – with a exceptional vocalist Tutu Puoane leading bringing Makeba’s songs to vibrant life.

Power and poise … Mimi’s Shebeen.

In South Africa, a shebeen is an unofficial gathering place for home-brewed liquor and animated discussions, often managed by a shebeen queen. Makeba’s mother the matriarch was a proprietress who was arrested for producing drinks without permission when Miriam was a newborn. Incapable of covering the penalty, she was incarcerated for half a year, taking her baby with her, which is how Miriam’s eventful life began – just one of the details the choreographer learned when studying her story. “So many stories!” says Seutin, when we meet in Brussels after a show. Seutin’s parent is from Belgium and she was raised there before moving to study and work in the United Kingdom, where she established her dance group Vocab Dance. Her South African mother would sing Makeba’s songs, such as the tunes, when Seutin was a child, and move along in the home.

Melodies of liberation … Miriam Makeba sings at the venue in 1988.

A decade ago, her parent had cancer and was in medical care in London. “I stopped working for three months to take care of her and she was always asking for the singer. It delighted her when we were singing together,” Seutin recalls. “There was ample time to pass at the hospital so I started researching.” In addition to reading about her victorious homecoming to the nation in the year, after the release of the leader (whom she had met when he was a young lawyer in the era), Seutin found that Makeba had been a breast cancer survivor in her youth, that Makeba’s daughter the girl died in childbirth in the year, and that because of her exile she hadn’t been able to attend her parent’s memorial. “Observing individuals and you look at their success and you overlook that they are facing challenges like everyone,” says the choreographer.

Creation and Concepts

All these thoughts went into the making of the production (premiered in Brussels in the year). Fortunately, her parent’s treatment was effective, but the concept for the piece was to honor “loss, existence, and grief”. In this context, Seutin pulls out threads of Makeba’s biography like flashbacks, and nods more broadly to the idea of displacement and dispossession today. While it’s not overt in the performance, she had in mind a additional character, a modern-day Miriam who is a traveler. “And we gather as these other selves of characters linked with Miriam Makeba to greet this young migrant.”

Rhythms of exile … musicians in the show.

In the performance, rather than being inebriated by the shebeen’s home-brew, the skilled performers appear possessed by beat, in harmony with the musicians on stage. Seutin’s choreography includes multiple styles of movement she has absorbed over the time, including from African nations, plus the global performers’ own vocabularies, including urban dances like the form.

Honoring strength … Alesandra Seutin.

She was surprised to find that some of the newer, international in the group didn’t already know about the artist. (She passed away in 2008 after having a cardiac event on the platform in Italy.) Why should younger generations learn about Mama Africa? “I think she would inspire young people to stand for what they are, expressing honesty,” remarks the choreographer. “But she did it very elegantly. She’d say something poignant and then perform a lovely melody.” Seutin aimed to take the similar method in this production. “We see movement and hear melodies, an aspect of enjoyment, but mixed with powerful ideas and instances that hit. This is what I admire about her. Because if you are being overly loud, people may ignore. They retreat. But she achieved it in a manner that you would receive it, and hear it, but still be graced by her talent.”

• The performance is at London, the dates