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“Discussing about the legendary singer in the nation, it’s like speaking about a royal figure,” states the choreographer. Referred to as the Empress of African Song, Makeba also spent time in New York with jazz greats like Miles Davis and Duke Ellington. Beginning as a teenager sent to work to support her family in the city, she later became a diplomat for Ghana, then the country’s official delegate to the United Nations. An outspoken campaigner against segregation, she was married to a activist. This remarkable life and legacy inspire the choreographer’s new production, the performance, scheduled for its British debut.

A Fusion of Dance, Music, and Spoken Word

Mimi’s Shebeen merges movement, instrumental performances, and spoken word in a theatrical piece that is not a simple biography but draws on Makeba’s history, especially her experience of banishment: after relocating to the city in the year, Makeba was prohibited from her homeland for three decades due to her anti-apartheid stance. Later, she was excluded from the US after marrying activist Stokely Carmichael. The performance is like a ritual of remembrance, a reimagined memorial – some praise, part celebration, some challenge – with the fabulous vocalist the performer at the centre bringing her music to vibrant life.

Power and poise … the production.

In South Africa, a shebeen is an under-the-radar gathering place for locally made drinks and animated discussions, usually presided over by a shebeen queen. Her parent the matriarch was a proprietress who was detained for illegally brewing alcohol when Miriam was a newborn. Incapable of covering the fine, she went to prison for six months, bringing her baby with her, which is how Miriam’s eventful life began – just one of the details Seutin discovered when studying her story. “Numerous tales!” exclaims Seutin, when we meet in Brussels after a performance. Her parent is from Belgium and she was raised there before relocating to study and work in the UK, where she established her company Vocab Dance. Her parent would sing Makeba’s songs, such as the tunes, when Seutin was a child, and dance to them in the home.

Songs of freedom … Miriam Makeba sings at Wembley Stadium in 1988.

A decade ago, her parent had cancer and was in medical care in the city. “I stopped working for a quarter to take care of her and she was constantly asking for Miriam Makeba. She was so happy when we were singing together,” she remembers. “There was ample time to kill at the facility so I began investigating.” In addition to reading about Makeba’s triumphant return to the nation in the year, after the release of the leader (whom she had met when he was a young lawyer in the 1950s), she found that she had been a breast cancer survivor in her teens, that Makeba’s daughter the girl passed away in childbirth in the year, and that due to her exile she could not be present at her parent’s funeral. “Observing individuals and you look at their achievements and you forget that they are struggling like anyone else,” states Seutin.

Development and Themes

All these thoughts went into the creation of the show (first staged in the city in 2023). Fortunately, Seutin’s mother’s treatment was effective, but the idea for the piece was to honor “death, life and mourning”. In this context, Seutin pulls out threads of Makeba’s biography like flashbacks, and references more generally to the idea of uprooting and loss nowadays. Although it’s not explicit in the show, Seutin had in mind a second protagonist, a modern-day Miriam who is a traveler. “And we gather as these other selves of personas connected to the icon to welcome this newcomer.”

Rhythms of exile … performers in the show.

In the show, rather than being intoxicated by the shebeen’s home-brew, the skilled dancers appear possessed by beat, in synthesis with the players on the platform. Seutin’s choreography incorporates various forms of dance she has learned over the time, including from African nations, plus the international cast’ personal styles, including street styles like krump.

Honoring strength … Alesandra Seutin.

Seutin was taken aback to find that some of the newer, international in the cast were unaware about the singer. (Makeba died in the year after having a heart attack on the platform in Italy.) Why should younger generations learn about the legend? “In my view she would inspire the youth to stand for what they believe in, speaking the truth,” says the choreographer. “But she accomplished this very elegantly. She’d say something poignant and then perform a lovely melody.” Seutin wanted to adopt the same approach in this work. “We see movement and listen to beautiful songs, an aspect of entertainment, but mixed with strong messages and instances that hit. That’s what I admire about her. Because if you are shouting too much, people won’t listen. They back away. But she did it in a manner that you would receive it, and understand it, but still be blessed by her talent.”

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