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“If you talk about Miriam Makeba in the nation, it’s akin to referring about a queen,” explains Alesandra Seutin. Called the Empress of African Song, the iconic artist also spent time in Greenwich Village with jazz greats like Miles Davis and Duke Ellington. Beginning as a teenager dispatched to labor to support her family in the city, she later served as an envoy for the nation, then the country’s official delegate to the United Nations. An outspoken campaigner against segregation, she was married to a activist. Her rich story and impact motivate Seutin’s latest work, Mimi’s Shebeen, scheduled for its British debut.

The Fusion of Movement, Sound, and Narration

Mimi’s Shebeen merges movement, instrumental performances, and oral storytelling in a stage work that is not a simple biography but utilizes Makeba’s history, particularly her story of exile: after moving to New York in 1959, she was prohibited from South Africa for three decades due to her opposition to segregation. Subsequently, she was excluded from the United States after wedding Black Panther activist Stokely Carmichael. The performance resembles a ceremonial tribute, a reimagined memorial – some praise, some festivity, part provocation – with a exceptional South African singer Tutu Puoane leading reviving Makeba’s songs to vibrant life.

Power and poise … the production.

In South Africa, a informal gathering spot is an unofficial venue for locally made drinks and lively conversation, often managed by a host. Makeba’s mother the matriarch was a proprietress who was arrested for producing drinks without permission when Makeba was 18 days old. Incapable of covering the fine, she was incarcerated for half a year, taking her infant with her, which is how her remarkable journey began – just one of the details Seutin learned when researching her story. “So many stories!” says she, when they met in Brussels after a performance. Her father is Belgian and she mainly grew up there before moving to learn and labor in the UK, where she established her company Vocab Dance. Her parent would perform her music, such as Pata Pata and Malaika, when Seutin was a child, and move along in the home.

Melodies of liberation … the artist sings at Wembley Stadium in the year.

A ten years back, her parent had cancer and was in medical care in the city. “I stopped working for a quarter to take care of her and she was constantly asking for Miriam Makeba. It delighted her when we were singing together,” Seutin recalls. “There was ample time to kill at the hospital so I started researching.” In addition to learning of her victorious homecoming to the nation in 1990, after the freedom of the leader (whom she had encountered when he was a legal professional in the era), Seutin found that Makeba had been a someone who overcame illness in her teens, that Makeba’s daughter the girl passed away in labor in the year, and that due to her banishment she could not be present at her own mother’s funeral. “Observing individuals and you look at their success and you overlook that they are struggling like anyone else,” says the choreographer.

Development and Themes

These reflections went into the creation of the show (first staged in Brussels in the year). Fortunately, her parent’s treatment was successful, but the idea for the piece was to honor “loss, existence, and grief”. Within that, Seutin pulls out threads of her life story like flashbacks, and nods more broadly to the idea of displacement and dispossession nowadays. While it’s not overt in the show, she had in mind a second protagonist, a contemporary version who is a traveler. “Together, we assemble as these alter egos of characters connected to the icon to welcome this young migrant.”

Rhythms of exile … musicians in the show.

In the show, rather than being inebriated by the venue’s home-brew, the multi-talented dancers appear taken over by rhythm, in synthesis with the musicians on stage. Seutin’s choreography incorporates 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.

Seutin was surprised to find that some of the newer, international in the group didn’t already know about the singer. (Makeba passed away in 2008 after having a cardiac event on stage in the country.) Why should new audiences discover Mama Africa? “I think she would inspire young people to advocate what they believe in, expressing honesty,” says the choreographer. “However she did it very elegantly. She expressed something poignant and then perform a beautiful song.” She wanted to take the similar method in this work. “Audiences observe movement and listen to melodies, an aspect of entertainment, but intertwined with strong messages and moments that hit. That’s what I respect about her. Since if you are being overly loud, people won’t listen. They back away. Yet she did it in a way that you would accept it, and hear it, but still be graced by her ability.”

• Mimi’s Shebeen is showing in London, the dates