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“If you talk about the legendary singer in South Africa, it’s akin to referring about a sovereign,” states the choreographer. Known as Mama Africa, Makeba also associated in Greenwich Village with jazz greats like prominent artists. Beginning as a teenager dispatched to labor to provide for her relatives in Johannesburg, she eventually became a diplomat for Ghana, then the country’s representative to the UN. An vocal anti-apartheid activist, she was married to a activist. Her rich life and legacy motivate Seutin’s latest work, Mimi’s Shebeen, set for its British debut.

The Fusion of Movement, Sound, and Narration

The show merges dance, live music, and spoken word in a theatrical piece that isn’t a straightforward biodrama but draws on Makeba’s history, especially her story of exile: after moving to the city in the year, Makeba was prohibited from her homeland for three decades due to her anti-apartheid stance. Later, she was excluded from the US after wedding Black Panther activist her spouse. The performance is like a ceremonial tribute, a deconstructed funeral – some praise, part celebration, some challenge – with the fabulous vocalist the performer leading bringing Makeba’s songs to dynamic existence.

Power and poise … Mimi’s Shebeen.

In the country, a informal gathering spot is an unofficial venue for home-brewed liquor and animated discussions, usually managed by a shebeen queen. Her parent Christina was a shebeen queen who was detained for illegally brewing alcohol when Makeba was 18 days old. Unable to pay the fine, Christina was incarcerated for half a year, taking her baby with her, which is how Miriam’s remarkable journey began – just one of the things Seutin discovered when studying Makeba’s life. “Numerous tales!” says she, when we meet in Brussels after a performance. Seutin’s parent is from Belgium and she was raised there before relocating to study and work in the United Kingdom, where she founded her dance group Vocab Dance. Her parent would perform her music, such as the tunes, when she was a youngster, and move along in the home.

Melodies of liberation … Miriam Makeba performs at Wembley Stadium in 1988.

A ten years back, Seutin’s mother had the illness and was in medical care in London. “I paused my career for three months to take care of her and she was constantly asking for the singer. It delighted her when we were performing as one,” Seutin remembers. “There was ample time to pass at the facility so I started researching.” As well as learning of her victorious homecoming to South Africa in 1990, after the release of Nelson Mandela (whom she had encountered when he was a young lawyer in the era), Seutin discovered that Makeba had been a breast cancer survivor in her teens, that her child Bongi died in childbirth in the year, and that because of her exile she could not attend her parent’s memorial. “You see people and you focus on their achievements and you forget that they are facing challenges like everyone,” states Seutin.

Development and Concepts

All these thoughts contributed to the creation of the production (premiered in Brussels in the year). Fortunately, her parent’s treatment was successful, but the concept for the piece was to celebrate “death, life and mourning”. In this context, Seutin pulls out threads of her life story like memories, and nods more broadly to the theme of displacement and dispossession today. Although it’s not explicit 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 characters connected to Miriam Makeba to greet this newcomer.”

Melodies of banishment … musicians in the show.

In the performance, rather than being intoxicated by the venue’s home-brew, the multi-talented dancers appear possessed by rhythm, in harmony with the musicians on stage. Seutin’s dance composition incorporates multiple styles of movement she has learned over the years, including from Rwanda, South Africa and Senegal, plus the international cast’ own vocabularies, including urban dances like krump.

A celebration of resilience … the creator.

Seutin was taken aback to find that some of the younger, non-South Africans in the cast didn’t already know about the artist. (She passed away in 2008 after having a cardiac event on the platform in the country.) Why should younger generations discover the legend? “In my view she would inspire young people to stand for what they are, expressing honesty,” remarks Seutin. “But she accomplished this very gracefully. She’d say something meaningful and then perform a beautiful song.” She wanted to take the similar method in this work. “We see movement and listen to beautiful songs, an element of entertainment, but mixed with strong messages and moments that resonate. This is what I admire about her. Since if you are shouting too much, people may ignore. They back away. Yet she achieved it in a manner that you would accept it, and hear it, but still be graced by her ability.”

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