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“Discussing about Miriam Makeba in the nation, it’s like speaking about a sovereign,” explains the choreographer. Referred to as the Empress of African Song, Makeba additionally spent time in New York with renowned musicians like prominent artists. Starting as a young person dispatched to labor to provide for her relatives in Johannesburg, she eventually became a diplomat for the nation, then Guinea’s representative to the United Nations. An outspoken campaigner against segregation, she was the wife to a Black Panther. Her rich life and legacy inspire the choreographer’s latest work, the performance, scheduled for its British debut.

The Fusion of Dance, Music, and Spoken Word

Mimi’s Shebeen combines movement, instrumental performances, and spoken word in a stage work that is not a simple biography but utilizes Makeba’s history, particularly her story of exile: after moving to the city in 1959, Makeba was prohibited from South Africa for 30 years due to her opposition to segregation. Subsequently, she was banned from the United States after marrying activist Stokely Carmichael. The performance resembles a ceremonial tribute, a reimagined memorial – some praise, some festivity, part provocation – with a exceptional South African singer the performer at the centre bringing her music to dynamic existence.

Power and poise … the production.

In South Africa, a informal gathering spot is an under-the-radar gathering place for home-brewed liquor and animated discussions, often managed by a shebeen queen. Her parent the matriarch was a proprietress who was arrested for producing drinks without permission when Makeba was 18 days old. Incapable of covering the fine, Christina was incarcerated for half a year, bringing her infant with her, which is how Miriam’s remarkable journey began – just one of the details Seutin learned when studying her story. “So many stories!” says she, when we meet in Brussels after a performance. Seutin’s father is from Belgium and she mainly grew up there before moving to learn and labor in the UK, where she founded her dance group Vocab Dance. Her South African mother would sing Makeba’s songs, such as the tunes, when Seutin was a child, and dance to them in the home.

Melodies of liberation … the artist performs at the venue in 1988.

A ten years back, her parent had cancer and was in hospital in London. “I paused my career for three months to take care of her and she was always asking for the singer. It delighted her when we were singing together,” she remembers. “There was ample time to kill at the hospital so I started researching.” As well as learning of her victorious homecoming to the nation in the year, after the release of the leader (whom she had encountered when he was a legal professional in the era), she found that she had been a someone who overcame illness in her teens, that Makeba’s daughter the girl died in labor in 1985, and that due to her banishment she hadn’t been able to be present at her own mother’s memorial. “Observing individuals and you look at their success and you overlook that they are struggling like anyone else,” states the choreographer.

Development and Themes

All these thoughts went into the creation of the show (first staged in Brussels in 2023). Thankfully, Seutin’s mother’s treatment was successful, but the concept for the piece was to honor “loss, existence, and grief”. Within that, Seutin highlights elements of Makeba’s biography like flashbacks, and nods more broadly to the theme of uprooting and loss today. Although it’s not explicit in the show, Seutin had in mind a second protagonist, a contemporary version who is a traveler. “Together, we assemble as these alter egos of personas linked with the icon to welcome this young migrant.”

Rhythms of exile … performers in the show.

In the performance, rather than being intoxicated by the shebeen’s local drink, the multi-talented dancers appear taken over by beat, in harmony with the players 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 global performers’ personal styles, including street styles like the form.

Honoring strength … the creator.

Seutin was surprised to find that some of the younger, non-South Africans in the cast didn’t already know about the artist. (She died in 2008 after having a heart attack on the platform in the country.) Why should younger generations learn about the legend? “I think she would inspire the youth to advocate what they are, expressing honesty,” says Seutin. “But she accomplished this very gracefully. She expressed something meaningful and then perform a beautiful song.” She aimed to take the similar method in this production. “We see movement and listen to melodies, an aspect of entertainment, but intertwined with strong messages and moments that resonate. That’s what I respect about her. Because if you are being overly loud, people may ignore. They back away. Yet she achieved it in a manner that you would accept it, and understand it, but still be graced by her talent.”

• The performance is showing in London, the dates