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“Discussing about the legendary singer in the nation, it’s similar to talking about a queen,” remarks the choreographer. Referred to as the Empress of African Song, the iconic artist additionally spent time in Greenwich Village with jazz greats like prominent artists. Starting as a teenager sent to work to provide for her relatives in Johannesburg, she later became a diplomat for the nation, then the country’s representative to the UN. An outspoken campaigner against segregation, she was married to a activist. Her rich story and impact motivate Seutin’s new production, Mimi’s Shebeen, set for its UK premiere.

The Fusion of Movement, Sound, and Narration

Mimi’s Shebeen merges dance, live music, and spoken word in a stage work that is not a simple biography but utilizes her past, especially her experience of banishment: after moving to the city in 1959, she was barred from her homeland for 30 years due to her anti-apartheid stance. Subsequently, she was banned from the US after marrying activist Stokely Carmichael. The show is like a ceremonial tribute, a reimagined memorial – some praise, part celebration, some challenge – with the fabulous South African singer Tutu Puoane leading bringing her music to vibrant life.

Strength and elegance … the production.

In the country, a shebeen is an under-the-radar gathering place for home-brewed liquor and animated discussions, usually presided over by a shebeen queen. Her parent Christina was a proprietress who was arrested for producing drinks without permission when Makeba was a newborn. Incapable of covering the penalty, Christina was incarcerated 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 her story. “Numerous tales!” exclaims Seutin, when they met in Brussels after a show. Her parent is from Belgium and she was raised there before relocating to study and work in the United Kingdom, where she founded her dance group Vocab Dance. Her parent would sing Makeba’s songs, such as the tunes, when Seutin was a youngster, and move along in the living room.

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

A decade ago, her parent had cancer and was in medical care in London. “I paused my career for three months to look after her and she was always requesting Miriam Makeba. She was so happy when we were singing together,” she remembers. “There was ample time to kill at the facility so I started researching.” In addition to reading about her victorious homecoming to the nation in 1990, after the freedom of Nelson Mandela (whom she had met when he was a young lawyer in the 1950s), Seutin found that she had been a breast cancer survivor in her teens, that her child the girl died in childbirth in 1985, and that because of her banishment she could not be present at her own mother’s memorial. “Observing individuals and you focus on their success and you forget that they are struggling like everyone,” states Seutin.

Development and Concepts

All these thoughts went into the making of the show (premiered in Brussels in the year). Thankfully, Seutin’s mother’s treatment was effective, but the idea for the work was to honor “loss, existence, and grief”. In this context, Seutin pulls out threads of Makeba’s biography like flashbacks, and nods more generally to the idea of uprooting and loss today. While it’s not overt in the performance, she had in mind a additional character, a modern-day Miriam who is a migrant. “And we gather as these alter egos of characters linked with the icon to greet this young migrant.”

Melodies of banishment … musicians in the show.

In the show, rather than being inebriated by the shebeen’s home-brew, the multi-talented dancers appear possessed by rhythm, in synthesis with the musicians on stage. Seutin’s choreography incorporates multiple styles of dance she has learned over the years, including from Rwanda, South Africa and Senegal, plus the international cast’ personal styles, including street styles like the form.

Honoring strength … Alesandra Seutin.

Seutin was surprised to find that some of the newer, international in the cast were unaware about the artist. (Makeba died in the year after having a cardiac event on stage in Italy.) Why should younger generations learn about the legend? “In my view she would motivate young people to advocate what they believe in, speaking the truth,” remarks the choreographer. “However she accomplished this very elegantly. She’d say something meaningful and then sing a beautiful song.” She wanted to take the same approach in this work. “Audiences observe dancing and listen to beautiful songs, an element of entertainment, but mixed with powerful ideas and moments that resonate. This is what I admire about Miriam. Since if you are shouting too much, people may ignore. They retreat. Yet she did it in a way that you would accept it, and hear it, but still be graced by her talent.”

• The performance is at London, the dates