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“If you talk about the legendary singer in the nation, it’s similar to talking about a sovereign,” remarks the choreographer. Referred to as the Empress of African Song, the iconic artist additionally associated 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 later became a diplomat for Ghana, then Guinea’s representative to the United Nations. An outspoken anti-apartheid activist, she was married to a activist. This remarkable story and impact inspire Seutin’s new production, the performance, scheduled for its British debut.

The Blend of Dance, Music, and Spoken Word

The show merges dance, live music, and oral storytelling in a theatrical piece that isn’t a simple biography but utilizes Makeba’s history, particularly her experience of banishment: after relocating to New York in the year, she was prohibited from South Africa for 30 years due to her anti-apartheid stance. Subsequently, she was excluded from the US after marrying activist her spouse. The show is like a ritual of remembrance, a deconstructed funeral – some praise, part celebration, some challenge – with the fabulous vocalist the performer leading bringing Makeba’s songs to dynamic existence.

Power and poise … Mimi’s Shebeen.

In the country, a informal gathering spot is an under-the-radar venue for locally made drinks and animated discussions, often managed by a host. Her parent the matriarch was a shebeen queen who was detained for producing drinks without permission when Miriam was a newborn. Incapable of covering the penalty, she went to prison for half a year, taking her baby with her, which is how Miriam’s remarkable journey started – just one of the details the choreographer learned when researching her story. “Numerous tales!” says Seutin, when they met 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 UK, where she founded her company the ensemble. Her South African mother would sing Makeba’s songs, such as Pata Pata and Malaika, when she was a child, and dance to them in the living room.

Melodies of liberation … the artist performs at the venue in 1988.

A decade ago, her parent had the illness and was in medical care in the city. “I paused my career for a quarter to take care of her and she was always asking for the singer. She was so happy when we were singing together,” Seutin recalls. “There was ample time to kill at the hospital so I began investigating.” In addition to learning of Makeba’s triumphant return to the nation in the year, after the release of the leader (whom she had met when he was a legal professional in the era), she discovered that she had been a breast cancer survivor in her youth, that her child Bongi died in childbirth in 1985, and that because of her banishment she could not attend her parent’s funeral. “You see people and you look at their achievements and you forget that they are facing challenges like everyone,” states Seutin.

Creation and Themes

All these thoughts contributed to the creation of the production (premiered in Brussels in 2023). Fortunately, her parent’s therapy was effective, but the concept for the piece was to honor “loss, existence, and grief”. Within that, she pulls out threads of her life story like memories, and nods more generally to the idea of uprooting and loss today. Although it’s not overt in the show, Seutin had in mind a additional character, a contemporary version who is a traveler. “And we gather as these alter egos of characters linked with Miriam Makeba to welcome this young migrant.”

Rhythms of exile … performers in the show.

In the show, rather than being inebriated by the venue’s home-brew, the skilled 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 street styles like the form.

Honoring strength … Alesandra Seutin.

She was surprised to find that some of the newer, international in the cast didn’t already know about the singer. (She passed away in the year after having a cardiac event on stage in Italy.) Why should new audiences discover Mama Africa? “I think she would motivate the youth to stand for what they are, speaking the truth,” says Seutin. “However she accomplished this very gracefully. She’d say something meaningful and then sing a lovely melody.” She wanted to adopt the similar method in this work. “Audiences observe dancing and hear beautiful songs, an aspect of enjoyment, but intertwined with strong messages and instances that resonate. This is what I admire about her. Because if you are shouting too much, people won’t listen. They retreat. But she did it in a way that you would receive it, and hear it, but still be graced by her ability.”

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