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“Discussing about Miriam Makeba in the nation, it’s similar to talking about a queen,” states the choreographer. Referred to as the Empress of African Song, the iconic artist also associated in Greenwich Village with jazz greats like Miles Davis and Duke Ellington. Beginning as a teenager dispatched to labor to provide for her relatives in Johannesburg, she eventually served as an envoy for Ghana, then Guinea’s representative to the UN. An vocal campaigner against segregation, she was the wife to a activist. This rich story and impact motivate the choreographer’s new production, the performance, scheduled for its British debut.

The Fusion of Dance, Music, and Spoken Word

Mimi’s Shebeen merges dance, live music, and oral storytelling in a stage work that isn’t a simple biography but utilizes Makeba’s history, especially her story of exile: after moving to the city in 1959, Makeba was prohibited from South Africa for three decades due to her anti-apartheid stance. Subsequently, she was excluded from the US after wedding activist her spouse. The show resembles a ritual of remembrance, a deconstructed funeral – part eulogy, part celebration, part provocation – with the exceptional South African singer the performer at the centre reviving Makeba’s songs to vibrant life.

Power and poise … Mimi’s Shebeen.

In the country, a informal gathering spot is an under-the-radar venue for home-brewed liquor and animated discussions, often presided over by a host. Her parent Christina 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 infant with her, which is how her remarkable journey began – just one of the things Seutin learned when studying her story. “So many stories!” says Seutin, when they met in Brussels after a performance. Her parent is Belgian and she mainly grew up there before relocating to learn and labor in the UK, where she founded her dance group the ensemble. Her South African mother would perform her music, such as the tunes, when she was a youngster, and dance to them in the living room.

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

A ten years back, her parent had the illness and was in medical care in London. “I stopped working for a quarter to take care of her and she was always requesting the singer. She was so happy when we were performing as one,” she recalls. “There was ample time to pass at the hospital so I started researching.” As well as reading about Makeba’s triumphant return to the nation in the year, after the freedom of Nelson Mandela (whom she had met when he was a legal professional in the 1950s), Seutin discovered that she had been a someone who overcame illness 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 attend her own mother’s funeral. “You see people and you focus on their achievements and you overlook that they are struggling like everyone,” says the choreographer.

Creation and Themes

These reflections contributed to the creation of the production (premiered in Brussels in the year). Fortunately, her parent’s therapy was effective, but the idea for the work was to celebrate “loss, existence, and grief”. In this context, Seutin highlights threads of her life story like memories, and nods more broadly to the theme of displacement and dispossession nowadays. While it’s not explicit in the show, she had in mind a additional character, a modern-day Miriam who is a traveler. “Together, we assemble as these alter egos of characters connected to the icon to welcome this young migrant.”

Melodies of banishment … performers in the show.

In the show, rather than being intoxicated by the shebeen’s home-brew, the multi-talented performers appear taken over by rhythm, in synthesis with the players on stage. Her choreography incorporates various forms of dance she has absorbed over the years, including from Rwanda, South Africa and Senegal, plus the global performers’ own vocabularies, including urban dances like krump.

A celebration of resilience … Alesandra Seutin.

She was taken aback to find that some of the younger, non-South Africans in the cast didn’t already know about the artist. (Makeba passed away in 2008 after having a heart attack on stage in the country.) Why should younger generations learn about the legend? “I think she would inspire the youth to stand for what they are, expressing honesty,” remarks the choreographer. “But she did it very gracefully. She expressed something poignant and then perform a beautiful song.” She aimed to take the same approach in this production. “Audiences observe movement and listen to melodies, an aspect of enjoyment, but mixed with strong messages and moments that resonate. That’s what I respect about Miriam. Because if you are shouting too much, people may ignore. They retreat. Yet she did it in a way that you would accept it, and hear it, but still be graced by her talent.”

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