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“If you talk about Miriam Makeba in the nation, it’s like speaking about a sovereign,” states the choreographer. Referred to as the Empress of African Song, the iconic artist additionally spent time in New York 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 the nation, then Guinea’s representative to the UN. An outspoken anti-apartheid activist, she was the wife to a Black Panther. Her remarkable life and legacy motivate Seutin’s new production, Mimi’s Shebeen, scheduled for its British debut.

The Fusion of Movement, Sound, and Narration

Mimi’s Shebeen combines dance, instrumental performances, and spoken word in a stage work that is not a simple biography but draws on her past, particularly her story of exile: after moving to the city in 1959, Makeba was prohibited from her homeland for three decades due to her opposition to segregation. Later, she was banned from the US after marrying activist Stokely Carmichael. The show resembles a ceremonial tribute, a deconstructed funeral – part eulogy, some festivity, some challenge – with a exceptional vocalist Tutu Puoane at the centre reviving her music to vibrant life.

Power and poise … Mimi’s Shebeen.

In the country, a informal gathering spot is an unofficial venue for locally made drinks and lively conversation, often managed by a shebeen queen. Makeba’s mother Christina was a proprietress who was arrested for producing drinks without permission when Makeba was 18 days old. Unable to pay the penalty, she was incarcerated for half a year, taking her infant with her, which is how Miriam’s remarkable journey began – just one of the things the choreographer learned when studying her story. “So many stories!” exclaims she, when we meet in Brussels after a performance. Seutin’s parent is from Belgium and she mainly grew up there before relocating to study and work in the UK, where she established her dance group Vocab Dance. Her parent would sing Makeba’s songs, such as Pata Pata and Malaika, when Seutin was a youngster, and move along in the home.

Melodies of liberation … Miriam Makeba sings at the venue in the year.

A ten years back, Seutin’s mother had the illness and was in medical care in London. “I paused my career for three months to look after her and she was constantly requesting the singer. It delighted her when we were singing together,” she remembers. “I had so much time to pass at the hospital so I began investigating.” As well as learning of Makeba’s triumphant return to South Africa in 1990, after the freedom of Nelson Mandela (whom she had encountered when he was a legal professional in the 1950s), she discovered that she had been a breast cancer survivor in her teens, that Makeba’s daughter Bongi died in childbirth in 1985, and that because of her exile she hadn’t been able to attend her own mother’s funeral. “You see people and you focus on their success and you overlook that they are struggling like everyone,” says the choreographer.

Creation and Themes

All these thoughts went into the making of the production (premiered in the city in the year). Thankfully, Seutin’s mother’s therapy was effective, but the concept for the piece was to honor “loss, existence, and grief”. Within that, Seutin pulls out elements 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 show, Seutin had in mind a second protagonist, a modern-day Miriam who is a migrant. “Together, we assemble as these other selves of personas linked with Miriam Makeba to welcome this newcomer.”

Melodies of banishment … performers in Mimi’s Shebeen.

In the show, rather than being intoxicated by the shebeen’s home-brew, the skilled performers appear possessed by beat, in harmony with the musicians on stage. Her choreography incorporates various forms of dance she has absorbed over the time, including from African nations, plus the international cast’ personal styles, including urban dances like krump.

A celebration of resilience … Alesandra Seutin.

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 the year after having a heart attack on the platform in the country.) Why should new audiences learn about Mama Africa? “In my view she would motivate young people to advocate what they are, expressing honesty,” says the choreographer. “But she did it very gracefully. She’d say something meaningful and then sing a beautiful song.” She wanted to adopt the same approach in this work. “Audiences observe dancing and listen to beautiful songs, an aspect of entertainment, but mixed with strong messages and instances that hit. This is what I admire about Miriam. Because if you are shouting too much, people may ignore. They retreat. But she did it in a manner that you would accept it, and hear it, but still be graced by her talent.”

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