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“Discussing about Miriam Makeba in the nation, it’s akin to referring about a sovereign,” remarks the choreographer. Called the Empress of African Song, Makeba additionally spent time in Greenwich Village with renowned musicians like prominent artists. Beginning as a young person dispatched to labor to support her family 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 activist. This rich story and impact inspire the choreographer’s latest work, the performance, set for its UK premiere.

The Blend of Movement, Sound, and Narration

Mimi’s Shebeen merges dance, live music, and oral storytelling in a stage work that is not a straightforward biodrama but draws on Makeba’s history, especially her experience of banishment: after moving to the city in 1959, Makeba was barred from South Africa for three decades due to her anti-apartheid stance. Later, she was excluded from the United States after wedding activist Stokely Carmichael. The show is like a ritual of remembrance, a reimagined memorial – part eulogy, some festivity, part provocation – with a exceptional vocalist the performer at the centre bringing Makeba’s songs to dynamic existence.

Strength and elegance … the production.

In South Africa, a informal gathering spot is an unofficial gathering place for home-brewed liquor and animated discussions, often presided over by a shebeen queen. Makeba’s mother Christina was a proprietress who was arrested for producing drinks without permission when Miriam was a newborn. Unable to pay the penalty, Christina went to prison for six months, bringing her infant with her, which is how Miriam’s eventful life began – just one of the things the choreographer learned when researching her story. “Numerous tales!” says Seutin, when they met in the city after a performance. Seutin’s father is Belgian and she was raised there before relocating to study and work in the United Kingdom, where she founded her company Vocab Dance. Her South African mother would sing Makeba’s songs, such as the tunes, when she was a youngster, and dance to them in the living room.

Songs of freedom … Miriam Makeba sings at Wembley Stadium in 1988.

A decade ago, her parent had the illness and was in medical care in the city. “I stopped working for a quarter to look after her and she was always requesting the singer. She was so happy when we were singing together,” she remembers. “There was ample time to kill at the hospital so I began investigating.” In addition to learning of her victorious homecoming to South Africa in 1990, after the release of Nelson Mandela (whom she had encountered when he was a legal professional in the era), she discovered that she had been a someone who overcame illness in her youth, that Makeba’s daughter the girl died in childbirth in the year, and that because of her banishment she hadn’t been able to attend her parent’s memorial. “Observing individuals and you focus on their success and you overlook that they are facing challenges like anyone else,” says Seutin.

Creation and Themes

These reflections contributed to the making of the show (premiered in the city in the year). Thankfully, her parent’s treatment was successful, but the concept for the work was to honor “death, life and mourning”. Within that, Seutin highlights elements of her life story like flashbacks, and references more broadly to the idea of displacement and dispossession nowadays. Although it’s not explicit in the show, she had in mind a additional character, a modern-day Miriam who is a migrant. “Together, we assemble as these other selves of personas linked with Miriam Makeba to welcome this young migrant.”

Melodies of banishment … musicians in Mimi’s Shebeen.

In the show, rather than being inebriated by the shebeen’s home-brew, the multi-talented dancers appear possessed by rhythm, in synthesis with the players on the platform. Her dance composition includes multiple styles of dance she has absorbed over the time, including from Rwanda, South Africa and Senegal, plus the international cast’ own vocabularies, including urban dances like the form.

A celebration of resilience … Alesandra Seutin.

She was taken aback to find that some of the younger, non-South Africans in the cast were unaware about the artist. (She died in 2008 after having a cardiac event on stage in the country.) Why should younger generations discover Mama Africa? “I think she would inspire the youth to stand for what they believe in, expressing honesty,” remarks the choreographer. “But she did it very elegantly. She’d say something meaningful and then sing a beautiful song.” She aimed to adopt the same approach in this work. “We see dancing and hear melodies, an aspect of enjoyment, but intertwined with strong messages and moments that hit. That’s what I admire about Miriam. Because if you are being overly loud, people may ignore. They retreat. But she did it in a way that you would accept it, and hear it, but still be blessed by her ability.”

• The performance is at London, 22-24 October