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“If you talk about Miriam Makeba in South Africa, it’s like speaking about a sovereign,” explains the choreographer. Known as Mama Africa, the iconic artist additionally associated in New York with renowned musicians like Miles Davis and Duke Ellington. Beginning as a teenager sent to work to provide for her relatives in the city, she later became a diplomat for the nation, then the country’s official delegate to the UN. An vocal anti-apartheid activist, she was married to a Black Panther. This rich story and impact inspire the choreographer’s new production, the performance, scheduled for its British debut.

A Fusion of Dance, Music, and Spoken Word

Mimi’s Shebeen combines movement, instrumental performances, and oral storytelling in a stage work that is not a straightforward biodrama but utilizes Makeba’s history, particularly her experience of banishment: after moving to New York in the year, Makeba was prohibited from South Africa for three decades due to her opposition to segregation. Later, she was banned from the United States after marrying Black Panther activist her spouse. The show resembles a ceremonial tribute, a reimagined memorial – part eulogy, some festivity, some challenge – with a exceptional South African singer Tutu Puoane leading reviving Makeba’s songs to dynamic existence.

Strength and elegance … Mimi’s Shebeen.

In South Africa, a shebeen is an unofficial gathering place for home-brewed liquor and lively conversation, usually managed by a shebeen queen. Her parent Christina was a proprietress who was arrested for illegally brewing alcohol when Miriam was a newborn. Unable to pay the fine, Christina was incarcerated for half a year, bringing her baby with her, which is how Miriam’s remarkable journey began – just one of the details the choreographer discovered when researching her story. “Numerous tales!” says she, when we meet in the city after a performance. Seutin’s parent is from Belgium and she mainly grew up there before moving to learn and labor in the United Kingdom, where she established her dance group the ensemble. Her South African mother would perform Makeba’s songs, such as Pata Pata and Malaika, when she was a youngster, and move along in the living room.

Melodies of liberation … the artist sings at Wembley Stadium in 1988.

A decade ago, Seutin’s mother had the illness and was in medical care in London. “I stopped working for a quarter to look after her and she was always asking for Miriam Makeba. It delighted her when we were performing as one,” she remembers. “There was ample time to pass at the hospital so I began investigating.” In addition to reading about her victorious homecoming to the nation in the year, after the freedom of Nelson Mandela (whom she had met when he was a young lawyer in the 1950s), she discovered that Makeba had been a someone who overcame illness in her teens, that Makeba’s daughter Bongi died in childbirth in the year, and that due to her banishment she could not attend her own mother’s memorial. “You see people and you focus on their achievements and you forget that they are facing challenges like anyone else,” states the choreographer.

Development and Themes

These reflections went into the creation of the production (first staged in the city in 2023). Thankfully, Seutin’s mother’s therapy was effective, but the concept for the work was to honor “death, life and mourning”. In this context, Seutin pulls out elements of her life story like memories, and nods more generally to the theme of uprooting and loss today. While it’s not overt in the performance, Seutin had in mind a additional character, a modern-day Miriam who is a traveler. “And we gather as these other selves of personas connected to Miriam Makeba to welcome this newcomer.”

Rhythms of exile … musicians in Mimi’s Shebeen.

In the show, rather than being intoxicated by the venue’s home-brew, the skilled performers appear taken over by rhythm, in harmony with the players on the platform. Her choreography incorporates multiple styles 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.

Honoring strength … the creator.

She was taken aback to find that some of the newer, international in the cast didn’t already know about the singer. (She died in the year after having a cardiac event on stage in Italy.) Why should younger generations learn about Mama Africa? “I think she would inspire the youth to stand for what they believe in, expressing honesty,” says Seutin. “But she accomplished this very elegantly. She’d say something meaningful and then perform a lovely melody.” Seutin aimed to take the similar method in this production. “We see dancing and listen to beautiful songs, an element of enjoyment, but intertwined with powerful ideas and instances that resonate. That’s what I admire about her. Since if you are being overly loud, people won’t listen. They retreat. Yet she achieved it in a way that you would receive it, and hear it, but still be blessed by her talent.”

• The performance is at London, 22-24 October