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“Discussing about Miriam Makeba in the nation, it’s like speaking about a queen,” states the choreographer. Called the Empress of African Song, Makeba additionally spent time in Greenwich Village with renowned musicians like Miles Davis and Duke Ellington. Beginning as a young person dispatched to labor to provide for her relatives in the city, she later served as an envoy for the nation, then Guinea’s representative to the United Nations. An vocal campaigner against segregation, she was the wife to a Black Panther. Her rich life and legacy motivate Seutin’s latest work, Mimi’s Shebeen, set for its British debut.

The Fusion of Movement, Sound, and Narration

Mimi’s Shebeen merges dance, live music, and spoken word in a theatrical piece that is not a straightforward biodrama but utilizes Makeba’s history, particularly her story of exile: after moving to New York in 1959, she was prohibited from her homeland for 30 years due to her anti-apartheid stance. Later, she was banned from the United States after wedding Black Panther activist Stokely Carmichael. The show is like a ceremonial tribute, a reimagined memorial – part eulogy, part celebration, part provocation – with the exceptional South African singer Tutu Puoane at the centre bringing Makeba’s songs to vibrant life.

Strength and elegance … the production.

In South Africa, a informal gathering spot is an unofficial venue for locally made drinks and lively conversation, often managed by a host. Makeba’s mother Christina was a proprietress who was arrested for illegally brewing alcohol when Miriam was 18 days old. Unable to pay the penalty, Christina went to prison for half a year, taking her infant with her, which is how Miriam’s remarkable journey started – just one of the things the choreographer discovered when researching her story. “So many stories!” exclaims Seutin, when they met in the city after a show. Her parent is Belgian and she mainly grew up there before moving to learn and labor in the United Kingdom, where she founded her company the ensemble. Her South African mother would sing her music, such as the tunes, when Seutin was a child, and dance to them in the living room.

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

A decade ago, her parent had the illness and was in hospital in the city. “I stopped working for a quarter to take care of her and she was constantly asking for Miriam Makeba. It delighted her when we were performing as one,” 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 South Africa in the year, after the freedom of Nelson Mandela (whom she had met when he was a young lawyer in the 1950s), Seutin found that she had been a breast cancer survivor in her youth, that her child Bongi passed away in childbirth in the year, and that due to her exile she could not be present at her parent’s funeral. “You see people and you look at their success and you forget that they are struggling like everyone,” states Seutin.

Development and Themes

All these thoughts went into the creation of the production (premiered in Brussels in 2023). Thankfully, Seutin’s mother’s treatment was effective, but the idea for the piece was to celebrate “loss, existence, and grief”. In this context, Seutin highlights threads of her life story like memories, and nods more broadly to the theme of displacement and dispossession nowadays. Although it’s not explicit in the performance, Seutin had in mind a additional character, a contemporary version who is a traveler. “And we gather as these alter egos of personas linked with the icon to greet this young migrant.”

Rhythms of exile … musicians in Mimi’s Shebeen.

In the performance, rather than being inebriated by the venue’s local drink, the multi-talented dancers appear taken over by beat, in synthesis with the players on stage. Her dance composition includes various forms of movement she has absorbed over the years, including from Rwanda, South Africa and Senegal, plus the international cast’ own vocabularies, including street styles like krump.

A celebration of resilience … the creator.

She was surprised to find that some of the younger, non-South Africans in the group were unaware about the artist. (She passed away in 2008 after having a heart attack on the platform in Italy.) Why should younger generations learn about the legend? “In my view she would motivate young people to advocate what they believe in, expressing honesty,” remarks Seutin. “But she accomplished this very gracefully. She expressed something poignant and then perform a lovely melody.” Seutin wanted to adopt the same approach in this work. “Audiences observe dancing and listen to beautiful songs, an aspect of enjoyment, but intertwined with strong messages and instances that hit. That’s what I respect about Miriam. Because if you are shouting too much, people won’t listen. They retreat. Yet she achieved it in a manner that you would accept it, and understand it, but still be blessed by her talent.”

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