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“When you speak about Miriam Makeba in the nation, it’s akin to referring about a royal figure,” remarks the choreographer. Called Mama Africa, Makeba also associated in New York with renowned musicians like prominent artists. Starting as a young person dispatched to labor to support her family in the city, she later served as an envoy for the nation, then the country’s official delegate to the UN. An vocal campaigner against segregation, she was the wife to a Black Panther. This remarkable story and impact inspire the choreographer’s latest work, Mimi’s Shebeen, scheduled for its British debut.

The Fusion of Dance, Music, and Spoken Word

Mimi’s Shebeen combines dance, live music, and oral storytelling in a theatrical piece that isn’t a straightforward biodrama but draws on her past, especially her experience of banishment: after moving to the city in the year, Makeba was prohibited from her homeland for three decades due to her anti-apartheid stance. Later, she was banned from the United States after wedding activist Stokely Carmichael. The performance is like a ritual of remembrance, a reimagined memorial – some praise, part celebration, some challenge – with the exceptional South African singer Tutu Puoane leading bringing Makeba’s songs to vibrant life.

Strength and elegance … Mimi’s Shebeen.

In South Africa, a shebeen is an under-the-radar gathering place for locally made drinks and animated discussions, often managed by a host. Her parent Christina was a shebeen queen who was arrested for producing drinks without permission when Miriam was a newborn. Unable to pay the penalty, she went to prison for six months, taking her baby with her, which is how her remarkable journey started – just one of the things Seutin learned when researching her story. “Numerous tales!” exclaims she, when we meet in Brussels after a performance. Her father is from Belgium and she was raised there before moving to study and work in the UK, where she founded her dance group Vocab Dance. Her parent would sing Makeba’s songs, such as the tunes, when she was a youngster, and dance to them in the living room.

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

A decade ago, her parent had the illness and was in hospital in the city. “I paused my career for three months to look after her and she was always asking for the singer. It delighted her when we were singing together,” Seutin recalls. “I had so much time to pass 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 the leader (whom she had met when he was a legal professional in the 1950s), she discovered that Makeba had been a breast cancer survivor in her teens, that Makeba’s daughter the girl passed away in childbirth in 1985, and that due to her exile she could not be present at her own mother’s memorial. “You see people and you look at their success and you overlook that they are facing challenges like anyone else,” states the choreographer.

Development and Themes

All these thoughts contributed to the creation of the show (premiered in Brussels in the year). Thankfully, her parent’s treatment was effective, but the concept for the piece was to honor “loss, existence, and grief”. In this context, Seutin pulls out elements of her life story like memories, and nods more generally to the idea of uprooting and loss today. While it’s not explicit in the performance, she had in mind a additional character, a modern-day Miriam who is a traveler. “Together, we assemble as these alter egos of characters linked with the icon to greet this young migrant.”

Melodies of banishment … performers in Mimi’s Shebeen.

In the show, rather than being inebriated by the venue’s home-brew, the multi-talented dancers appear taken over by beat, in synthesis with the musicians on stage. Seutin’s choreography incorporates various forms of dance she has absorbed over the time, including from African nations, plus the global performers’ personal styles, including urban dances like krump.

Honoring strength … the creator.

She was taken aback to find that some of the newer, international in the group were unaware about the singer. (Makeba passed away in the year after having a cardiac event on the platform in the country.) Why should new audiences discover the legend? “In my view she would motivate the youth to advocate what they believe in, speaking the truth,” remarks Seutin. “But she did it very elegantly. She expressed something meaningful and then perform a lovely melody.” Seutin aimed to adopt the similar method in this production. “We see dancing and listen to beautiful songs, an aspect of enjoyment, but intertwined with strong messages and moments that resonate. That’s what I respect about her. Because if you are shouting too much, people may ignore. They retreat. But she did it in a manner that you would accept it, and understand it, but still be graced by her talent.”

• Mimi’s Shebeen is showing in the city, the dates