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“If you talk about the legendary singer in the nation, it’s akin to referring about a sovereign,” remarks the choreographer. Referred to as the Empress of African Song, the iconic artist also spent time in Greenwich Village with renowned musicians like prominent artists. Beginning as a teenager dispatched to labor to support her family in the city, she later served as an envoy for Ghana, then the country’s official delegate to the UN. An outspoken campaigner against segregation, she was the wife to a activist. Her rich life and legacy inspire the choreographer’s latest work, Mimi’s Shebeen, scheduled for its British debut.

The Fusion of Movement, Sound, and Narration

The show merges movement, live music, and oral storytelling in a stage work that is not a straightforward biodrama but utilizes Makeba’s history, especially her experience of banishment: after relocating to New York in 1959, she was barred from South Africa for three decades due to her anti-apartheid stance. Subsequently, she was excluded from the United States after marrying Black Panther activist her spouse. The show is like a ceremonial tribute, a reimagined memorial – part eulogy, part celebration, part provocation – with the exceptional vocalist Tutu Puoane at the centre bringing her music to vibrant life.

Strength and elegance … the production.

In the country, a informal gathering spot is an under-the-radar gathering place for home-brewed liquor and animated discussions, usually presided over by a shebeen queen. Makeba’s mother the matriarch was a shebeen queen who was detained for producing drinks without permission when Miriam was 18 days old. Unable to pay the penalty, she went to prison for six months, taking her infant with her, which is how Miriam’s eventful life began – just one of the details Seutin learned when researching her story. “So many stories!” says she, when we meet in Brussels after a performance. Her father is Belgian and she mainly grew up there before relocating to learn and labor in the UK, where she founded her company the ensemble. Her South African mother would sing Makeba’s songs, such as the tunes, when she was a child, and dance to them in the living room.

Songs of freedom … the artist performs at the venue in 1988.

A decade ago, Seutin’s mother had the illness and was in medical care in London. “I stopped working for three months to look after her and she was always asking for Miriam Makeba. She was so happy when we were performing as one,” she remembers. “I had so much time to pass at the facility so I began investigating.” As well as reading about Makeba’s triumphant return to the nation in 1990, after the freedom of the leader (whom she had met when he was a young lawyer in the era), Seutin discovered that Makeba had been a breast cancer survivor in her teens, that Makeba’s daughter Bongi passed away in childbirth in the year, and that due to her banishment she hadn’t been able to be present at her own mother’s memorial. “Observing individuals and you focus on their success and you overlook that they are facing challenges like everyone,” states the choreographer.

Development and Concepts

These reflections went into the creation of the show (first staged in the city in 2023). Thankfully, her parent’s treatment was successful, but the idea for the work was to celebrate “loss, existence, and grief”. In this context, she pulls out threads of her life story like flashbacks, and references more broadly to the idea of uprooting and loss today. Although it’s not explicit in the show, she had in mind a additional character, a modern-day Miriam who is a migrant. “And we gather as these other selves of personas connected to the icon to welcome this young migrant.”

Rhythms of exile … musicians in the show.

In the show, rather than being inebriated by the shebeen’s local drink, the multi-talented dancers appear possessed by beat, in synthesis with the musicians on stage. Seutin’s dance composition includes multiple styles of dance she has absorbed over the time, including from Rwanda, South Africa and Senegal, plus the international cast’ own vocabularies, including street styles like krump.

Honoring strength … the creator.

Seutin was taken aback to find that some of the newer, international in the cast were unaware about the artist. (She died in the year after having a heart attack on stage in Italy.) Why should younger generations discover the legend? “In my view she would inspire the youth to advocate what they are, speaking the truth,” says the choreographer. “However she did it very gracefully. She expressed something meaningful and then perform a lovely melody.” Seutin aimed to take the same approach in this work. “We see dancing and listen to melodies, an element of enjoyment, but intertwined with strong messages and moments that resonate. This is what I admire about her. Because if you are shouting too much, people may ignore. They retreat. Yet she did it in a manner that you would receive it, and understand it, but still be blessed by her talent.”

• The performance is at London, the dates