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“If you talk about Miriam Makeba in the nation, it’s akin to referring about a queen,” states the choreographer. Known as Mama Africa, the iconic artist also associated in New York with jazz greats like prominent artists. Beginning as a teenager dispatched to labor to support her family in Johannesburg, she later served as an envoy for the nation, then Guinea’s representative to the UN. An outspoken campaigner against segregation, she was married to a activist. Her remarkable story and impact motivate the choreographer’s new production, Mimi’s Shebeen, set for its British debut.

The Blend of Movement, Sound, and Narration

Mimi’s Shebeen merges dance, instrumental performances, and spoken word in a stage work that isn’t a simple biography but draws on Makeba’s history, particularly her story of exile: after relocating to the city in 1959, she was prohibited from her homeland for three decades due to her opposition to segregation. Subsequently, she was banned from the US after marrying Black Panther activist her spouse. The performance resembles a ceremonial tribute, a reimagined memorial – part eulogy, some festivity, part provocation – with the fabulous vocalist the performer leading bringing Makeba’s songs to vibrant life.

Strength and elegance … the production.

In South Africa, a informal gathering spot is an unofficial venue for locally made drinks and animated discussions, usually managed by a host. Makeba’s mother the matriarch was a proprietress who was detained for producing drinks without permission when Miriam was a newborn. Unable to pay the fine, Christina was incarcerated for half a year, taking her infant with her, which is how Miriam’s eventful life began – just one of the details Seutin learned when researching her story. “So many stories!” exclaims Seutin, when they met in the city after a performance. Seutin’s parent is Belgian and she mainly grew up there before relocating to learn and labor in the UK, where she founded her company Vocab Dance. Her South African mother would sing her music, such as Pata Pata and Malaika, when Seutin was a youngster, and dance to them in the living room.

Songs of freedom … the artist sings at Wembley Stadium in the year.

A ten years back, her parent had the illness and was in hospital in London. “I stopped working for three months to look after her and she was constantly requesting Miriam Makeba. She was so happy when we were singing together,” she recalls. “I had so much time to pass at the hospital so I began investigating.” In addition to reading about her victorious homecoming to South Africa in 1990, after the freedom of the leader (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 the girl died in childbirth in 1985, and that because of her banishment she hadn’t been able to be present at her parent’s memorial. “You see people and you focus on their success and you overlook that they are struggling like everyone,” states the choreographer.

Creation and Concepts

All these thoughts went into the creation of the show (premiered in the city in the year). Thankfully, her parent’s therapy was effective, but the idea for the piece was to celebrate “loss, existence, and grief”. In this context, she highlights threads of Makeba’s biography like flashbacks, and references more broadly to the theme of displacement and dispossession nowadays. Although it’s not overt in the performance, Seutin had in mind a additional character, a contemporary version who is a traveler. “Together, we assemble as these other selves of personas linked with Miriam Makeba to greet this newcomer.”

Rhythms of exile … performers in the show.

In the show, rather than being inebriated by the venue’s home-brew, the skilled dancers appear possessed by rhythm, in harmony with the players on stage. Her dance composition includes multiple styles of movement she has absorbed over the years, including from Rwanda, South Africa and Senegal, plus the global performers’ personal styles, including street styles like the form.

A celebration of resilience … the creator.

She was taken aback to find that some of the newer, international in the cast were unaware about the singer. (She passed away in 2008 after having a heart attack on the platform in Italy.) Why should younger generations learn about Mama Africa? “In my view she would motivate young people to advocate what they believe in, speaking the truth,” says Seutin. “However she did it very elegantly. She’d say something meaningful and then sing a lovely melody.” She wanted to take the similar method in this production. “Audiences observe dancing and listen to beautiful songs, an element of entertainment, but mixed with strong messages and instances that hit. This is what I admire about Miriam. Since if you are shouting too much, people may ignore. They back away. Yet she did it in a way that you would receive it, and hear it, but still be blessed by her talent.”

• The performance is at the city, 22-24 October