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“When you speak about the legendary singer in the nation, it’s similar to talking about a queen,” remarks the choreographer. Called Mama Africa, the iconic artist also spent time in Greenwich Village with jazz greats like Miles Davis and Duke Ellington. Starting as a young person sent to work to support her family in Johannesburg, she eventually served as an envoy for Ghana, then Guinea’s official delegate to the United Nations. An outspoken campaigner against segregation, she was the wife to a activist. Her remarkable life and legacy motivate the choreographer’s latest work, the performance, scheduled for its UK premiere.

A Blend of Movement, Sound, and Narration

Mimi’s Shebeen combines movement, live music, and oral storytelling in a stage work that is not a straightforward biodrama but utilizes Makeba’s history, particularly her story of exile: after moving to New York in 1959, Makeba was prohibited from South Africa for 30 years due to her opposition to segregation. Later, she was excluded from the United States after marrying activist her spouse. The show resembles a ceremonial tribute, a reimagined memorial – some praise, some festivity, some challenge – with a fabulous South African singer Tutu Puoane at the centre reviving her music to vibrant life.

Power and poise … the production.

In South Africa, a informal gathering spot is an under-the-radar gathering place for home-brewed liquor and animated discussions, usually managed by a shebeen queen. Her parent Christina was a proprietress who was detained for illegally brewing alcohol when Miriam was 18 days old. Incapable of covering the fine, Christina was incarcerated for six months, taking her infant with her, which is how Miriam’s remarkable journey started – just one of the things the choreographer learned when studying Makeba’s life. “Numerous tales!” exclaims she, when they met in Brussels after a show. Seutin’s parent is Belgian and she mainly grew up there before moving to study and work in the United Kingdom, where she established her dance group the ensemble. Her parent would perform her music, such as the tunes, when she was a child, and dance to them in the home.

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

A ten years back, Seutin’s mother had the illness and was in hospital in the city. “I stopped working for a quarter to take care of her and she was always asking for Miriam Makeba. It delighted her when we were performing as one,” Seutin remembers. “There was ample time to kill at the facility so I started researching.” In addition to reading about Makeba’s triumphant return 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 she had been a someone who overcame illness in her youth, that her child the girl died in childbirth in the year, and that due to her banishment she hadn’t been able to attend her parent’s memorial. “Observing individuals and you focus on their achievements and you overlook that they are facing challenges like everyone,” says the choreographer.

Creation and Concepts

All these thoughts contributed to the making of the production (premiered in Brussels in the year). Fortunately, Seutin’s mother’s treatment was successful, but the idea for the work was to honor “death, life and mourning”. Within that, she pulls out threads of her life story like memories, and nods more broadly to the idea 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. “And we gather as these alter egos of characters connected to the icon to greet this newcomer.”

Rhythms of exile … performers in the show.

In the show, rather than being inebriated by the venue’s local drink, the skilled performers appear taken over by rhythm, in synthesis with the musicians on the platform. Seutin’s choreography includes multiple styles of dance she has absorbed over the years, including from African nations, plus the global performers’ personal styles, including urban dances like the form.

A celebration of resilience … Alesandra Seutin.

She was taken aback to find that some of the newer, international in the cast didn’t already know about the artist. (She died in the year after having a cardiac event on the platform in Italy.) Why should younger generations discover Mama Africa? “I think she would motivate young people to stand for what they are, expressing honesty,” remarks Seutin. “However she accomplished this very elegantly. She expressed something meaningful and then sing a beautiful song.” She aimed to adopt the similar method in this work. “Audiences observe dancing and listen to melodies, an element of enjoyment, but intertwined with powerful ideas and moments that hit. This is what I admire about Miriam. Because 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 blessed by her ability.”

• The performance is showing in the city, the dates