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“If you talk about the legendary singer in South Africa, it’s similar to talking about a queen,” explains Alesandra Seutin. Called the Empress of African Song, 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 provide for her relatives in the city, she later became a diplomat for Ghana, then Guinea’s representative to the UN. An outspoken anti-apartheid activist, she was married to a Black Panther. This rich story and impact inspire the choreographer’s new production, Mimi’s Shebeen, set for its British debut.

A Blend of Movement, Sound, and Narration

Mimi’s Shebeen combines dance, live music, and oral storytelling in a stage work that is not a straightforward biodrama but utilizes Makeba’s history, especially her story of exile: after moving to the city in 1959, Makeba was barred from South Africa for three decades due to her anti-apartheid stance. Later, she was banned from the United States after wedding activist her spouse. The show is like a ritual of remembrance, a deconstructed funeral – some praise, part celebration, some challenge – with the exceptional South African singer Tutu Puoane leading bringing Makeba’s songs to vibrant life.

Power and poise … Mimi’s Shebeen.

In the country, a shebeen is an unofficial venue for home-brewed liquor and lively conversation, usually managed by a shebeen queen. Her parent Christina was a shebeen queen who was arrested for producing drinks without permission when Miriam was 18 days old. Incapable of covering the fine, she went to prison for six months, bringing her baby with her, which is how Miriam’s remarkable journey started – just one of the things the choreographer learned when researching her story. “So many stories!” exclaims she, when they met in the city after a show. Her father is from Belgium and she was raised there before relocating to learn and labor in the UK, where she established her company Vocab Dance. Her parent would sing her music, such as the tunes, when Seutin was a child, and dance to them in the home.

Songs of freedom … Miriam Makeba sings at the venue in the year.

A decade ago, Seutin’s mother 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 requesting the singer. She was so happy when we were performing as one,” Seutin remembers. “There was ample time to pass at the hospital so I started researching.” In addition to learning of her victorious homecoming to the nation in 1990, after the release of Nelson Mandela (whom she had encountered when he was a young lawyer in the 1950s), Seutin found that she had been a someone who overcame illness in her youth, that her child Bongi passed away in labor in the year, and that because of her banishment she hadn’t been able to be present at her own mother’s memorial. “You see people and you focus on their success and you forget that they are struggling like everyone,” says the choreographer.

Development and Concepts

These reflections contributed to the creation of the production (first staged in the city in the year). Thankfully, her parent’s treatment was successful, but the concept for the piece was to celebrate “loss, existence, and grief”. Within that, Seutin highlights elements of her life story like flashbacks, and nods more broadly to the theme of uprooting and loss nowadays. Although it’s not explicit in the performance, she had in mind a second protagonist, a contemporary version who is a migrant. “Together, we assemble as these alter egos of characters linked with the icon to welcome this newcomer.”

Rhythms of exile … performers in Mimi’s Shebeen.

In the performance, rather than being intoxicated by the venue’s local drink, the skilled dancers appear possessed by rhythm, in synthesis with the players on stage. Her choreography incorporates multiple styles of movement she has absorbed over the years, including from African nations, plus the international cast’ personal styles, including urban dances like the form.

Honoring strength … Alesandra Seutin.

She was surprised to find that some of the younger, non-South Africans in the group didn’t already know about the artist. (Makeba died in 2008 after having a cardiac event on stage in the country.) Why should new audiences learn about the legend? “I think she would inspire young people to stand for what they are, speaking the truth,” says Seutin. “However she accomplished this very elegantly. She’d say something poignant and then sing a lovely melody.” She aimed to adopt the similar method in this work. “We see movement and listen to melodies, an element of enjoyment, but mixed with powerful ideas and moments that hit. That’s what I admire about her. Because if you are being overly loud, people won’t listen. They back away. Yet she achieved it in a manner that you would accept it, and hear it, but still be blessed by her talent.”

• The performance is showing in the city, 22-24 October