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“Discussing about Miriam Makeba in South Africa, it’s similar to talking about a queen,” explains the choreographer. Known as Mama Africa, the iconic artist additionally associated in New York with renowned musicians like prominent artists. Beginning as a young person sent to work to provide for her relatives in the city, she later served as an envoy for Ghana, then the country’s official delegate to the United Nations. An vocal anti-apartheid activist, she was the wife to a Black Panther. Her remarkable story and impact inspire the choreographer’s latest work, the performance, scheduled for its UK premiere.

A Blend of Movement, Sound, and Narration

The show merges movement, live music, and spoken word in a theatrical piece that is not a straightforward biodrama but utilizes her past, particularly her experience of banishment: after moving to New York in the year, she was barred from her homeland for 30 years due to her opposition to segregation. Later, she was excluded from the US after marrying Black Panther activist Stokely Carmichael. The performance resembles a ritual of remembrance, a deconstructed funeral – some praise, some festivity, some challenge – with the fabulous vocalist the performer at the centre bringing her music to vibrant life.

Strength and elegance … the production.

In the country, a informal gathering spot is an unofficial gathering place for locally made drinks and animated discussions, usually presided over by a shebeen queen. Makeba’s mother the matriarch was a shebeen queen who was arrested for illegally brewing alcohol when Makeba was 18 days old. Unable to pay the fine, Christina went to prison for half a year, bringing her baby with her, which is how Miriam’s eventful life started – just one of the details Seutin discovered when researching her story. “So many stories!” says Seutin, when they met 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 company Vocab Dance. 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 home.

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

A ten years back, her parent had cancer and was in medical care in the city. “I stopped working for three months to look after her and she was always asking for Miriam Makeba. She was so happy when we were singing together,” she remembers. “I had so much time to kill at the facility so I started researching.” As well as reading about Makeba’s triumphant return to the nation in 1990, after the freedom of the leader (whom she had met when he was a legal professional in the era), Seutin discovered that she had been a breast cancer survivor in her youth, that Makeba’s daughter the girl died in labor in 1985, and that because of her exile she hadn’t been able to be present at her parent’s funeral. “Observing individuals and you focus on their achievements and you overlook that they are struggling like anyone else,” says the choreographer.

Creation and Themes

These reflections contributed to the creation of the show (premiered in the city in 2023). Thankfully, her parent’s therapy was effective, but the concept for the work was to celebrate “loss, existence, and grief”. In this context, she highlights threads of Makeba’s biography like memories, and references more generally to the idea of displacement and dispossession today. While it’s not overt in the show, she had in mind a additional character, a modern-day Miriam who is a traveler. “Together, we assemble as these other selves of characters connected to the icon to greet this young migrant.”

Melodies of banishment … musicians in the show.

In the show, rather than being intoxicated by the venue’s home-brew, the skilled dancers appear taken over by beat, in synthesis with the players on the platform. Seutin’s dance composition includes various forms of dance she has absorbed over the time, including from African nations, plus the international cast’ personal styles, including street styles like krump.

Honoring strength … Alesandra Seutin.

Seutin was surprised to find that some of the newer, international in the group were unaware about the singer. (Makeba died in the year after having a heart attack on the platform in the country.) Why should younger generations discover Mama Africa? “I think she would motivate the youth to advocate what they are, speaking the truth,” remarks the choreographer. “However she accomplished this very elegantly. She’d say something poignant and then perform a lovely melody.” She aimed to adopt the same approach in this work. “Audiences observe movement and hear melodies, an element of entertainment, but intertwined with strong messages and moments that resonate. This is what I respect about Miriam. Since if you are being overly loud, people may ignore. They retreat. Yet she did it in a manner that you would receive it, and understand it, but still be graced by her ability.”

• Mimi’s Shebeen is showing in London, the dates