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“Discussing about the legendary singer in South Africa, it’s similar to talking about a queen,” states Alesandra Seutin. Known as Mama Africa, the iconic artist additionally associated in New York with renowned musicians like Miles Davis and Duke Ellington. Starting as a teenager sent to work to support her family in Johannesburg, she eventually became a diplomat for the nation, then Guinea’s official delegate to the UN. An outspoken anti-apartheid activist, she was the wife to a activist. Her rich life and legacy inspire the choreographer’s latest work, Mimi’s Shebeen, scheduled for its UK premiere.

A Blend of Movement, Sound, and Narration

Mimi’s Shebeen combines dance, live music, and oral storytelling in a theatrical piece that is not a straightforward biodrama but draws on her past, especially her experience of banishment: after relocating to New York in 1959, Makeba was barred from South Africa for 30 years due to her anti-apartheid stance. Later, she was banned from the US after marrying activist her spouse. The show resembles a ceremonial tribute, a reimagined memorial – some praise, part celebration, part provocation – with the fabulous vocalist the performer at the centre bringing Makeba’s songs to vibrant life.

Strength and elegance … the production.

In South Africa, a shebeen is an under-the-radar gathering place for home-brewed liquor and lively conversation, usually managed by a shebeen queen. Makeba’s mother Christina was a proprietress who was detained for producing drinks without permission when Miriam was 18 days old. Unable to pay the penalty, she went to prison for six months, taking her baby with her, which is how her remarkable journey began – just one of the things Seutin learned when studying her story. “Numerous tales!” says she, when they met in the city after a show. Seutin’s father is Belgian and she mainly grew up there before moving to learn and labor in the United Kingdom, where she established her company the ensemble. Her South African mother would sing her music, such as Pata Pata and Malaika, when she was a youngster, and dance to them in the home.

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

A decade ago, her parent had the illness and was in medical care in London. “I stopped working for a quarter to look after her and she was constantly asking for the singer. It delighted her when we were singing together,” Seutin recalls. “I had so much time to pass at the hospital so I began investigating.” 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 legal professional in the era), she discovered that she had been a someone who overcame illness in her teens, that her child the girl died in labor in the year, and that because of her exile she could not attend her own mother’s memorial. “Observing individuals and you focus on their success and you forget that they are struggling like anyone else,” states the choreographer.

Creation and Themes

All these thoughts contributed to the creation of the show (first staged in Brussels in 2023). Thankfully, Seutin’s mother’s therapy was successful, but the idea for the piece was to honor “loss, existence, and grief”. In this context, she pulls out elements of Makeba’s biography like flashbacks, and references more generally to the idea of uprooting and loss today. While it’s not overt in the performance, Seutin had in mind a second protagonist, a contemporary version who is a migrant. “Together, we assemble as these alter egos of personas connected to Miriam Makeba to welcome this young migrant.”

Melodies of banishment … performers in the show.

In the performance, rather than being intoxicated by the venue’s home-brew, the skilled dancers appear taken over by rhythm, in harmony with the musicians on the platform. Her dance composition incorporates multiple styles of movement she has absorbed over the years, including from African nations, plus the international cast’ own vocabularies, including urban dances like the form.

Honoring strength … the creator.

Seutin was surprised to find that some of the newer, international in the cast didn’t already know about the singer. (She died in 2008 after having a cardiac event on the platform in the country.) Why should younger generations discover the legend? “In my view she would motivate young people to stand for what they are, expressing honesty,” remarks the choreographer. “However she accomplished this very gracefully. She expressed something poignant and then sing a beautiful song.” Seutin wanted to adopt the same approach in this production. “We see dancing and listen to melodies, an aspect of enjoyment, but intertwined with powerful ideas and instances that resonate. That’s what I respect about Miriam. Because if you are shouting too much, people won’t listen. They back away. Yet she did it in a manner that you would receive it, and understand it, but still be graced by her ability.”

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