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“When you speak about the legendary singer in the nation, it’s akin to referring about a queen,” remarks the choreographer. Known as the Empress of African Song, the iconic artist also associated in Greenwich Village with renowned musicians like Miles Davis and Duke Ellington. Beginning as a teenager dispatched to labor to provide for her relatives in the city, she eventually became a diplomat for Ghana, then the country’s official delegate to the UN. An vocal campaigner against segregation, she was the wife to a Black Panther. Her rich story and impact motivate Seutin’s new production, Mimi’s Shebeen, set for its UK premiere.

The Blend of Dance, Music, and Spoken Word

Mimi’s Shebeen combines movement, instrumental performances, and oral storytelling in a theatrical piece that is not a straightforward biodrama but draws on her past, especially her story of exile: after relocating to the city in the year, she was barred from her homeland for 30 years due to her opposition to segregation. Subsequently, she was excluded from the US after wedding Black Panther activist Stokely Carmichael. The show is like a ceremonial tribute, a deconstructed funeral – part eulogy, part celebration, part provocation – with a exceptional vocalist the performer leading bringing her music to vibrant life.

Strength and elegance … the production.

In South Africa, a shebeen is an unofficial venue for locally made drinks and animated discussions, often presided over by a shebeen queen. Her parent Christina was a proprietress who was detained for illegally brewing alcohol when Miriam was 18 days old. Unable to pay the fine, Christina was incarcerated for six months, taking her baby with her, which is how her remarkable journey began – just one of the things the choreographer learned when researching her story. “Numerous tales!” exclaims she, when we meet in the city after a performance. Her parent is Belgian and she was raised there before relocating to study and work in the UK, where she founded her company the ensemble. Her South African mother would perform Makeba’s songs, such as the tunes, when she was a child, and dance to them in the living room.

Melodies of liberation … Miriam Makeba performs at Wembley Stadium in 1988.

A ten years back, Seutin’s mother had the illness and was in medical care in the city. “I stopped working for three months to take care of her and she was constantly asking for the singer. It delighted her when we were performing as one,” Seutin recalls. “There was ample time to kill at the facility so I started researching.” In addition to learning of her victorious homecoming to the nation in 1990, after the release of Nelson Mandela (whom she had met when he was a young lawyer in the era), she discovered that she had been a breast cancer survivor in her youth, that Makeba’s daughter Bongi passed away in labor in 1985, and that because of her banishment she hadn’t been able to be present at her own mother’s memorial. “You see people and you look at their achievements and you forget that they are struggling like anyone else,” says the choreographer.

Creation and Themes

All these thoughts went into the creation of the show (first staged in the city in 2023). Thankfully, her parent’s therapy was successful, but the concept for the work was to celebrate “loss, existence, and grief”. Within that, Seutin highlights elements of Makeba’s biography like flashbacks, and nods more broadly to the idea of uprooting and loss nowadays. Although it’s not overt in the performance, she had in mind a second protagonist, a modern-day Miriam who is a migrant. “Together, we assemble as these alter egos of characters linked with the icon to greet this newcomer.”

Melodies of banishment … musicians in Mimi’s Shebeen.

In the performance, rather than being intoxicated by the shebeen’s local drink, the skilled dancers appear possessed by rhythm, in synthesis with the players on the platform. Seutin’s choreography includes various forms of dance she has learned over the time, including from African nations, plus the international cast’ own vocabularies, including street styles like the form.

Honoring strength … the creator.

Seutin was taken aback to find that some of the newer, international in the group were unaware about the artist. (Makeba died in 2008 after having a heart attack on stage in the country.) Why should younger generations discover Mama Africa? “I think she would inspire the youth to advocate what they are, speaking the truth,” remarks the choreographer. “But she did it very elegantly. She expressed something poignant and then perform a beautiful song.” She aimed to adopt the similar method in this work. “Audiences observe dancing and listen to beautiful songs, an element of enjoyment, but mixed with powerful ideas and instances that resonate. That’s what I admire about her. Because if you are being overly loud, people won’t listen. They back away. But she achieved it in a manner that you would receive it, and understand it, but still be blessed by her ability.”

• The performance is at the city, 22-24 October