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“Discussing about the legendary singer in South Africa, it’s like speaking about a queen,” remarks Alesandra Seutin. Called Mama Africa, the iconic artist also spent time in New York with renowned musicians like prominent artists. Beginning as a teenager sent to work to provide for her relatives in the city, she later became a diplomat for Ghana, then the country’s official delegate to the United Nations. An vocal anti-apartheid activist, she was married to a Black Panther. This rich story and impact inspire the choreographer’s latest work, Mimi’s Shebeen, set for its UK premiere.

The Blend of Movement, Sound, and Narration

Mimi’s Shebeen combines movement, live music, and oral storytelling in a theatrical piece that isn’t a straightforward biodrama but draws on Makeba’s history, especially her story of exile: after relocating to the city in the year, she was prohibited from her homeland for 30 years due to her opposition to segregation. Subsequently, she was banned from the United States after wedding Black Panther activist her spouse. The show resembles a ritual of remembrance, a deconstructed funeral – part eulogy, some festivity, part provocation – with a exceptional vocalist Tutu Puoane leading bringing her music to vibrant life.

Power and poise … the production.

In the country, a informal gathering spot is an under-the-radar venue for locally made drinks and animated discussions, often managed by a shebeen queen. Makeba’s mother Christina was a shebeen queen who was arrested for producing drinks without permission when Miriam was a newborn. Unable to pay the penalty, Christina was incarcerated for six months, bringing her infant with her, which is how her remarkable journey started – just one of the things the choreographer discovered when studying Makeba’s life. “So many stories!” says Seutin, when they met in the city after a show. Seutin’s parent is Belgian and she was raised there before relocating to study and work in the United Kingdom, where she founded her company the ensemble. Her South African mother would perform her music, such as the tunes, when Seutin was a youngster, and move along in the living room.

Songs of freedom … Miriam Makeba performs at the venue in 1988.

A ten years back, Seutin’s mother had the illness and was in hospital in London. “I stopped working for a quarter to look after her and she was constantly requesting Miriam Makeba. It delighted her when we were performing as one,” Seutin remembers. “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 1990, after the release of Nelson Mandela (whom she had encountered when he was a legal professional in the 1950s), she discovered that she had been a someone who overcame illness in her teens, that her child Bongi died in childbirth in the year, and that because of her banishment she hadn’t been able to attend her own mother’s memorial. “You see people and you focus on their success and you forget that they are struggling like anyone else,” says Seutin.

Development and Themes

These reflections went into the creation of the show (first staged in Brussels in the year). Thankfully, her parent’s treatment was successful, but the idea for the piece was to honor “death, life and mourning”. Within that, she pulls out threads of Makeba’s biography like flashbacks, and nods more generally to the idea of uprooting and loss nowadays. Although it’s not explicit in the performance, Seutin had in mind a second protagonist, a modern-day Miriam who is a traveler. “And we gather as these alter egos of personas linked with the icon to welcome this newcomer.”

Rhythms of exile … performers in Mimi’s Shebeen.

In the show, rather than being intoxicated by the shebeen’s home-brew, the skilled dancers appear possessed by beat, in harmony with the musicians on the platform. Seutin’s choreography incorporates various forms of movement she has learned over the time, including from African nations, plus the international cast’ own vocabularies, 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 artist. (Makeba passed away in the year after having a cardiac event on the platform in the country.) Why should new audiences discover the legend? “I think she would inspire young people to advocate what they believe in, expressing honesty,” remarks the choreographer. “But she did it very elegantly. She expressed something poignant and then perform a lovely melody.” She wanted to take the same approach in this production. “Audiences observe dancing and listen to melodies, an element of enjoyment, but mixed with strong messages and moments that hit. That’s what I admire about her. Because if you are shouting too much, people may ignore. They back away. But she achieved it in a manner that you would receive it, and understand it, but still be graced by her talent.”

• The performance is at the city, 22-24 October