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“If you talk about Miriam Makeba in the nation, it’s like speaking about a sovereign,” states the choreographer. Known as Mama Africa, Makeba also associated in New York with renowned musicians like Miles Davis and Duke Ellington. Starting as a teenager dispatched to labor to provide for her relatives in the city, she eventually became a diplomat for the nation, then Guinea’s representative to the UN. An outspoken anti-apartheid activist, she was married to a Black Panther. This remarkable story and impact inspire Seutin’s latest work, the performance, scheduled for its British debut.

A Blend of Movement, Sound, and Narration

Mimi’s Shebeen combines dance, instrumental performances, and oral storytelling in a stage work that is not a straightforward biodrama but draws on Makeba’s history, especially her story of exile: after moving to New York in the year, she was prohibited from her homeland for 30 years due to her opposition to segregation. Later, she was banned from the US after marrying activist her spouse. The performance is like a ceremonial tribute, a reimagined memorial – some praise, part celebration, some challenge – with a exceptional vocalist Tutu Puoane leading reviving Makeba’s songs to dynamic existence.

Strength and elegance … the production.

In South Africa, a shebeen is an unofficial gathering place for locally made drinks and animated discussions, often managed by a host. Makeba’s mother the matriarch was a shebeen queen who was detained for producing drinks without permission when Miriam was a newborn. Incapable of covering the fine, Christina was incarcerated for six months, bringing her baby with her, which is how her remarkable journey began – just one of the things Seutin discovered when studying her story. “So many stories!” exclaims she, when they met in Brussels after a show. Seutin’s parent is from Belgium and she mainly grew up there before relocating to learn and labor in the United Kingdom, where she founded her company Vocab Dance. Her South African mother would perform her music, such as the tunes, when Seutin was a youngster, and move along in the home.

Melodies of liberation … the artist performs at the venue in the year.

A decade ago, her parent had the illness and was in medical care in London. “I paused my career for a quarter to take care of her and she was always requesting Miriam Makeba. It delighted her when we were performing as one,” Seutin remembers. “I had so much time to kill at the hospital so I started researching.” As well as learning of Makeba’s triumphant return to South Africa in the year, after the release of the leader (whom she had encountered when he was a young lawyer in the era), she discovered that she had been a breast cancer survivor in her teens, that Makeba’s daughter Bongi died in labor in 1985, and that due to 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 facing challenges like anyone else,” states the choreographer.

Creation and Themes

All these thoughts went into the making of the show (premiered in the city in 2023). Fortunately, Seutin’s mother’s therapy was effective, but the concept for the piece was to celebrate “loss, existence, and grief”. Within that, she pulls out threads of Makeba’s biography like flashbacks, and nods more broadly to the theme of displacement and dispossession nowadays. Although it’s not explicit in the show, Seutin had in mind a additional character, a contemporary version who is a migrant. “Together, we assemble as these other selves of characters linked with the icon to greet this newcomer.”

Melodies of banishment … performers in Mimi’s Shebeen.

In the performance, rather than being inebriated by the venue’s home-brew, the multi-talented dancers appear taken over by rhythm, in harmony with the players on the platform. Her dance composition incorporates various forms of movement she has learned over the years, including from Rwanda, South Africa and Senegal, plus the international cast’ own vocabularies, 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 cast didn’t already know about the singer. (She passed away in 2008 after having a cardiac event on stage in Italy.) Why should younger generations learn about Mama Africa? “I think she would inspire young people to advocate what they are, expressing honesty,” remarks the choreographer. “However she accomplished this very elegantly. She’d say something poignant and then perform a lovely melody.” She aimed to take the same approach in this production. “Audiences observe dancing and hear melodies, an aspect of enjoyment, but mixed with strong messages and instances that resonate. That’s what I respect about her. Because if you are being overly loud, people may ignore. They retreat. Yet she achieved it in a way that you would accept it, and hear it, but still be blessed by her talent.”

• Mimi’s Shebeen is at the city, 22-24 October