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“If you talk about the legendary singer in South Africa, it’s akin to referring about a queen,” remarks the choreographer. Known as Mama Africa, the iconic artist also associated in Greenwich Village with jazz greats like Miles Davis and Duke Ellington. Beginning as a young person dispatched to labor to support her family in the city, she eventually became a diplomat for the nation, then Guinea’s representative to the UN. An outspoken campaigner against segregation, she was the wife to a activist. This remarkable life and legacy inspire Seutin’s new production, Mimi’s Shebeen, scheduled for its UK premiere.

A Fusion of Dance, Music, and Spoken Word

The show merges movement, instrumental performances, and oral storytelling in a theatrical piece that is not a simple biography but draws on her past, especially her story of exile: after relocating to the city in the year, Makeba was barred from South Africa for 30 years due to her opposition to segregation. Later, she was banned from the United States after marrying Black Panther activist Stokely Carmichael. The show is like a ceremonial tribute, a reimagined memorial – part eulogy, some festivity, part provocation – with a fabulous vocalist the performer leading bringing Makeba’s songs to dynamic existence.

Power and poise … the production.

In the country, a informal gathering spot is an unofficial venue for locally made drinks and lively conversation, often presided over by a host. Makeba’s mother Christina was a shebeen queen who was detained for illegally brewing alcohol when Makeba was a newborn. Unable to pay the penalty, Christina went to prison for half a year, bringing her infant with her, which is how her remarkable journey began – just one of the things Seutin learned when studying Makeba’s life. “Numerous tales!” exclaims Seutin, when they met in Brussels after a performance. Seutin’s father is Belgian and she was raised there before relocating to learn and labor in the United Kingdom, where she established her company the ensemble. Her South African mother would perform her music, such as Pata Pata and Malaika, when Seutin was a child, and move along in the home.

Songs of freedom … Miriam Makeba sings at Wembley Stadium in 1988.

A decade ago, Seutin’s mother had cancer and was in hospital in the city. “I paused my career for three months to take care of her and she was constantly requesting the singer. She was so happy when we were singing together,” Seutin recalls. “I had so much time to kill at the hospital so I began investigating.” As well as learning of Makeba’s triumphant return to South Africa in the year, after the freedom of the leader (whom she had encountered when he was a legal professional in the era), she discovered that Makeba had been a breast cancer survivor in her youth, that her child Bongi passed away in labor in 1985, and that due to her exile she could not be present at her own mother’s memorial. “You see people and you focus on their achievements and you overlook that they are struggling like everyone,” says Seutin.

Creation and Concepts

All these thoughts contributed to the creation of the production (first staged in the city in 2023). Thankfully, Seutin’s mother’s treatment was effective, but the idea for the piece was to celebrate “loss, existence, and grief”. Within that, Seutin pulls out threads of Makeba’s biography like flashbacks, and references more broadly to the theme of uprooting and loss nowadays. Although it’s not explicit in the performance, Seutin had in mind a second protagonist, a contemporary version who is a traveler. “Together, we assemble as these other selves of personas linked with the icon to greet this young migrant.”

Melodies of banishment … performers in the show.

In the show, rather than being inebriated by the shebeen’s home-brew, the skilled performers appear taken over by beat, in harmony with the musicians on stage. Seutin’s choreography incorporates multiple styles of dance she has learned over the time, including from African nations, plus the international cast’ personal styles, including urban dances like krump.

Honoring strength … Alesandra Seutin.

She was taken aback to find that some of the younger, non-South Africans in the group didn’t already know about the singer. (She passed away in 2008 after having a heart attack on the platform in the country.) Why should younger generations learn about the legend? “I think she would motivate the youth to stand for what they are, expressing honesty,” remarks the choreographer. “However she did it very elegantly. She’d say something meaningful and then perform a lovely melody.” Seutin wanted to adopt the similar method in this production. “Audiences observe movement and listen to beautiful songs, an element of enjoyment, but intertwined with strong messages and instances that resonate. This is what I admire about her. Because if you are being overly loud, people won’t listen. They retreat. Yet she achieved it in a manner that you would receive it, and understand it, but still be graced by her talent.”

• Mimi’s Shebeen is at London, the dates