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“Discussing about Miriam Makeba in the nation, it’s akin to referring about a queen,” states the choreographer. Known as Mama Africa, Makeba additionally spent time in Greenwich Village with jazz greats like prominent artists. Beginning as a young person sent to work to provide for her relatives in Johannesburg, she eventually became a diplomat for the nation, then the country’s representative to the United Nations. An outspoken anti-apartheid activist, she was the wife to a activist. This remarkable story and impact inspire the choreographer’s new production, the performance, set for its British debut.

A Blend of Movement, Sound, and Narration

The show combines dance, live music, and oral storytelling in a theatrical piece that is not a simple biography but utilizes Makeba’s history, especially her story of exile: after relocating to the city in the year, Makeba was prohibited 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 her spouse. The show resembles a ceremonial tribute, a reimagined memorial – part eulogy, part celebration, some challenge – with the fabulous South African singer Tutu Puoane at the centre bringing Makeba’s songs to dynamic existence.

Strength and elegance … the production.

In South Africa, a shebeen is an unofficial gathering place for home-brewed liquor and lively conversation, usually presided over by a shebeen queen. Makeba’s mother Christina was a proprietress who was arrested for illegally brewing alcohol when Miriam was a newborn. Unable to pay the fine, she was incarcerated for half a year, bringing her baby with her, which is how Miriam’s eventful life started – just one of the details Seutin learned when researching Makeba’s life. “So many stories!” exclaims Seutin, when they met in the city after a performance. Her parent is Belgian and she mainly grew up there before relocating to learn and labor in the United Kingdom, where she established her dance group the ensemble. Her South African mother would sing her music, such as Pata Pata and Malaika, when Seutin was a child, and dance to them in the living room.

Songs of freedom … the artist performs at Wembley Stadium in the year.

A decade ago, her parent had cancer and was in hospital in the city. “I paused my career for a quarter to look after her and she was constantly asking for the singer. She was so happy when we were performing as one,” she recalls. “There was ample time to kill at the facility so I began investigating.” As well as learning of her victorious homecoming to the nation in 1990, after the release of Nelson Mandela (whom she had met when he was a young lawyer in the 1950s), she discovered that Makeba had been a someone who overcame illness in her youth, that Makeba’s daughter the girl died in childbirth 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 went into the making of the production (first staged in the city in 2023). Thankfully, her parent’s therapy was effective, but the idea for the piece was to celebrate “death, life and mourning”. In this context, she highlights elements of her life story like memories, and nods more broadly to the theme of displacement and dispossession nowadays. Although it’s not overt in the show, Seutin had in mind a additional character, a contemporary version who is a migrant. “And we gather as these other selves of characters connected to the icon to welcome this newcomer.”

Rhythms of exile … performers in Mimi’s Shebeen.

In the show, rather than being inebriated by the shebeen’s home-brew, the multi-talented dancers appear taken over by beat, in synthesis with the players on the platform. Her choreography incorporates various forms of dance she has absorbed over the years, including from Rwanda, South Africa and Senegal, plus the global performers’ personal styles, including street styles like krump.

A celebration of resilience … Alesandra Seutin.

Seutin was surprised to find that some of the younger, non-South Africans in the group were unaware about the artist. (She passed away in 2008 after having a heart attack on stage in the country.) Why should new audiences learn about the legend? “In my view she would inspire young people to stand for what they believe in, speaking the truth,” remarks Seutin. “However she did it very elegantly. She expressed something meaningful and then perform a beautiful song.” Seutin aimed to adopt the similar method in this production. “We see movement and hear beautiful songs, an aspect of enjoyment, but intertwined with powerful ideas and instances that hit. That’s what I admire about Miriam. Since if you are shouting too much, people won’t listen. They back away. But she achieved it in a manner that you would accept it, and hear it, but still be blessed by her ability.”

• Mimi’s Shebeen is showing in the city, 22-24 October