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“When you speak about the legendary singer in the nation, it’s similar to talking about a sovereign,” explains Alesandra Seutin. Referred to as Mama Africa, the iconic artist also spent time in Greenwich Village with renowned musicians like Miles Davis and Duke Ellington. Beginning as a teenager sent to work to support her family in the city, she eventually served as an envoy for the nation, then the country’s official delegate to the United Nations. An vocal campaigner against segregation, she was the wife to a Black Panther. This rich story and impact motivate the choreographer’s latest work, Mimi’s Shebeen, set for its UK premiere.

The Blend of Movement, Sound, and Narration

Mimi’s Shebeen merges movement, live music, and spoken word in a theatrical piece that is not a simple biography but utilizes Makeba’s history, especially her story of exile: after relocating to New York in the year, Makeba was barred from her homeland for 30 years due to her opposition to segregation. Subsequently, she was excluded from the United States after marrying activist her spouse. The performance is like a ceremonial tribute, a reimagined memorial – part eulogy, part celebration, part provocation – with the fabulous vocalist the performer leading bringing her music to dynamic existence.

Strength and elegance … the production.

In the country, a shebeen is an under-the-radar venue for locally made drinks and animated discussions, often managed by a host. Makeba’s mother Christina was a shebeen queen who was detained for producing drinks without permission when Miriam was a newborn. Unable to pay the penalty, Christina was incarcerated for six months, taking her baby with her, which is how Miriam’s remarkable journey started – just one of the things Seutin learned when studying her story. “So many stories!” exclaims Seutin, when they met in the city after a performance. Her parent is from Belgium and she was raised there before moving to study and work in the United Kingdom, where she founded her company the ensemble. Her parent would perform her music, 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 the year.

A decade ago, Seutin’s mother had the illness and was in medical care in the city. “I paused my career for three months to look after her and she was always asking for the singer. It delighted her when we were singing together,” Seutin recalls. “I had so much time to kill at the facility so I began investigating.” As well as reading about her victorious homecoming to the nation in the year, after the freedom of the leader (whom she had encountered when he was a legal professional in the 1950s), she discovered that she had been a someone who overcame illness in her youth, that her child Bongi died in labor in 1985, and that due to her exile she hadn’t been able to be present at her own mother’s memorial. “You see people and you focus on their success and you overlook that they are facing challenges like anyone else,” says Seutin.

Creation and Themes

These reflections went into the making of the production (first staged in the city in the year). Thankfully, Seutin’s mother’s treatment was effective, but the idea for the piece was to celebrate “loss, existence, and grief”. Within that, she highlights elements of her life story like memories, and references more generally to the idea of displacement and dispossession nowadays. While it’s not overt in the performance, she had in mind a additional character, a contemporary version who is a migrant. “Together, we assemble as these other selves of personas connected to the icon to greet this young migrant.”

Melodies of banishment … performers in the show.

In the show, rather than being inebriated by the venue’s local drink, the skilled performers appear taken over by beat, in synthesis with the musicians on stage. Seutin’s choreography includes multiple styles of dance 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.

Honoring strength … the creator.

Seutin was taken aback to find that some of the newer, international in the cast didn’t already know about the singer. (She passed away in the year after having a heart attack on stage in the country.) Why should new audiences discover Mama Africa? “In my view she would motivate the youth to advocate what they believe in, speaking the truth,” says Seutin. “But she did it very gracefully. She expressed something poignant and then sing a lovely melody.” Seutin wanted to adopt the similar method in this production. “Audiences observe dancing and hear beautiful songs, an element of enjoyment, but mixed with powerful ideas and moments that resonate. This is what I respect about Miriam. Since if you are being overly loud, people may ignore. They back away. But she did it in a way that you would receive it, and understand it, but still be blessed by her ability.”

• Mimi’s Shebeen is showing in London, 22-24 October