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“When you speak about the legendary singer in South Africa, it’s akin to referring about a queen,” explains the choreographer. Called the Empress of African Song, Makeba also associated in New York with renowned musicians like prominent artists. Beginning as a young person dispatched to labor to support her family in the city, she eventually 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 activist. This rich life and legacy motivate the choreographer’s latest work, Mimi’s Shebeen, set for its UK premiere.

The Blend of Dance, Music, and Spoken Word

Mimi’s Shebeen combines movement, live music, and spoken word in a stage work that isn’t a simple biography but utilizes Makeba’s history, particularly her experience of banishment: after relocating to New York in 1959, Makeba was barred from her homeland for three decades due to her opposition to segregation. Later, she was banned from the US after wedding Black Panther activist her spouse. The show resembles a ritual of remembrance, a reimagined memorial – part eulogy, some festivity, part provocation – with the fabulous South African singer the performer at the centre bringing Makeba’s songs to vibrant life.

Power and poise … Mimi’s Shebeen.

In South Africa, a informal gathering spot is an unofficial gathering place for home-brewed liquor and animated discussions, usually presided over by a host. Makeba’s mother the matriarch was a proprietress who was detained for producing drinks without permission when Makeba was 18 days old. Unable to pay the fine, Christina was incarcerated for half a year, bringing her infant with her, which is how Miriam’s remarkable journey started – just one of the details Seutin learned when studying Makeba’s life. “So many stories!” says Seutin, when we meet in Brussels after a show. Seutin’s parent is Belgian and she mainly grew up there before moving to learn and labor in the UK, 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 move along in the home.

Songs of freedom … the artist sings at Wembley Stadium in 1988.

A ten years back, Seutin’s mother had cancer and was in hospital in London. “I stopped working for three months to look after her and she was constantly requesting Miriam Makeba. It delighted her when we were performing as one,” she recalls. “There was ample time to pass at the facility so I started researching.” In addition to reading about Makeba’s triumphant return to the nation in the year, after the freedom of the leader (whom she had met when he was a legal professional in the 1950s), she discovered that she had been a breast cancer survivor in her youth, that Makeba’s daughter the girl passed away in childbirth in the year, and that due to her banishment she could not attend her parent’s memorial. “Observing individuals and you look at their achievements and you overlook that they are facing challenges like everyone,” says the choreographer.

Creation and Concepts

All these thoughts contributed to the making of the production (first staged in the city in the year). Fortunately, Seutin’s mother’s treatment was successful, but the concept for the piece was to honor “death, life and mourning”. Within that, Seutin highlights threads of Makeba’s biography like memories, and references more generally to the theme of uprooting and loss 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 characters connected to Miriam Makeba to greet this newcomer.”

Rhythms of exile … performers in the show.

In the show, rather than being intoxicated by the venue’s local drink, the skilled dancers appear possessed by rhythm, in synthesis with the players on the platform. Her dance composition incorporates 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.

Honoring strength … Alesandra Seutin.

She was taken aback to find that some of the younger, non-South Africans in the cast were unaware about the artist. (She died in 2008 after having a cardiac event on the platform in Italy.) Why should younger generations discover the legend? “I think she would motivate young people to stand for what they are, expressing honesty,” says Seutin. “But she did it very elegantly. She’d say something poignant and then sing a lovely melody.” She wanted to take the same approach in this work. “We see movement and listen to melodies, an aspect of enjoyment, but mixed with strong messages and instances that hit. This is what I admire about Miriam. Since if you are shouting too much, people may ignore. They back away. But she did it in a manner that you would accept it, and understand it, but still be blessed by her ability.”

• Mimi’s Shebeen is at London, the dates