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“When you speak about the legendary singer in the nation, it’s like speaking about a sovereign,” explains the choreographer. Known as Mama Africa, Makeba additionally spent time in Greenwich Village with renowned musicians like prominent artists. Starting as a young person sent to work to provide for her relatives in the city, she later became a diplomat for Ghana, then the country’s representative to the UN. An outspoken campaigner against segregation, she was the wife to a Black Panther. This remarkable story and impact motivate Seutin’s new production, Mimi’s Shebeen, scheduled for its British debut.

The Blend of Movement, Sound, and Narration

Mimi’s Shebeen merges movement, live music, and spoken word in a stage work that isn’t a straightforward biodrama but draws on her past, particularly her experience of banishment: after moving to New York in the year, Makeba was prohibited from her homeland for 30 years due to her anti-apartheid stance. Subsequently, she was excluded from the US after wedding activist Stokely Carmichael. The performance resembles a ceremonial tribute, a reimagined memorial – some praise, part celebration, some challenge – with a exceptional South African singer Tutu Puoane leading bringing Makeba’s songs to vibrant life.

Power and poise … the production.

In South Africa, a informal gathering spot is an under-the-radar gathering place for locally made drinks and lively conversation, usually managed by a host. Her parent Christina was a shebeen queen who was arrested for producing drinks without permission when Miriam was a newborn. Unable to pay the fine, Christina went to prison for six months, bringing her infant with her, which is how Miriam’s remarkable journey began – just one of the things Seutin discovered when researching Makeba’s life. “So many stories!” exclaims Seutin, when we meet in Brussels after a show. Seutin’s father is from Belgium and she mainly grew up there before relocating to study and work in the United Kingdom, where she established her company the ensemble. Her parent would perform her music, such as the tunes, when Seutin was a child, and dance to them in the home.

Melodies of liberation … Miriam Makeba performs at Wembley Stadium in 1988.

A decade ago, Seutin’s mother had cancer and was in medical care in the city. “I paused my career for a quarter to look after her and she was constantly requesting the singer. It delighted her when we were singing together,” Seutin recalls. “I had so much time to pass at the facility so I began investigating.” As well as learning of her victorious homecoming to South Africa in the year, after the release of the leader (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 teens, that Makeba’s daughter Bongi died in labor in the year, and that because of her banishment she hadn’t been able to be present at her own mother’s memorial. “You see people and you look at their success and you overlook that they are facing challenges like everyone,” says the choreographer.

Development and Concepts

All these thoughts went into the creation of the show (premiered in the city in 2023). Fortunately, Seutin’s mother’s therapy was effective, but the concept for the piece was to celebrate “death, life and mourning”. Within that, she highlights elements of her life story like memories, and references more broadly to the theme of displacement and dispossession today. While it’s not overt in the performance, Seutin had in mind a second protagonist, a modern-day Miriam who is a migrant. “And we gather as these alter egos of personas linked with the icon to welcome this newcomer.”

Rhythms of exile … musicians in Mimi’s Shebeen.

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 players on stage. Seutin’s dance composition includes multiple styles of dance she has absorbed over the time, including from African nations, plus the international cast’ own vocabularies, including urban dances like krump.

A celebration of resilience … 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 discover the legend? “I think she would motivate young people to advocate what they are, speaking the truth,” remarks Seutin. “However she did it very gracefully. She expressed something meaningful and then perform a beautiful song.” She aimed to adopt the similar method in this work. “We see movement and hear melodies, an element of enjoyment, but mixed with powerful ideas and instances that hit. This is what I respect about Miriam. Since if you are being overly loud, people won’t listen. They retreat. Yet she achieved it in a way that you would accept it, and hear it, but still be graced by her ability.”

• The performance is at London, the dates