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“If you talk about Miriam Makeba in South Africa, it’s akin to referring about a royal figure,” explains the choreographer. Known as the Empress of African Song, the iconic artist additionally spent time in Greenwich Village with renowned musicians like Miles Davis and Duke Ellington. Starting as a teenager sent to work to support her family in Johannesburg, she eventually served as an envoy for the nation, then Guinea’s representative to the United Nations. An vocal anti-apartheid activist, she was married to a activist. This rich life and legacy motivate Seutin’s latest work, Mimi’s Shebeen, scheduled for its UK premiere.

The Fusion of Dance, Music, and Spoken Word

Mimi’s Shebeen combines dance, instrumental performances, and spoken word in a stage work that is not a straightforward biodrama but draws on her past, especially her experience of banishment: after relocating to the city in the year, Makeba was barred from South Africa for 30 years due to her anti-apartheid stance. Subsequently, she was banned from the United States after marrying activist her spouse. The show resembles a ritual of remembrance, a reimagined memorial – some praise, part celebration, part provocation – with the fabulous South African singer the performer leading bringing her music to dynamic existence.

Power and poise … Mimi’s Shebeen.

In South Africa, a shebeen is an under-the-radar venue for home-brewed liquor and lively conversation, often presided over by a host. Her parent the matriarch was a proprietress who was detained for producing drinks without permission when Miriam was 18 days old. Incapable of covering the fine, she was incarcerated for half a year, bringing her infant with her, which is how Miriam’s remarkable journey began – just one of the things Seutin learned when researching Makeba’s life. “Numerous tales!” exclaims Seutin, when we meet in Brussels after a performance. Her parent is from Belgium and she mainly grew up there before relocating to study and work in the United Kingdom, where she founded her company the ensemble. Her parent would sing her music, such as the tunes, when Seutin was a youngster, and dance to them in the home.

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

A ten years back, Seutin’s mother had the illness and was in hospital in the city. “I stopped working for a quarter to take care of her and she was always requesting Miriam Makeba. It delighted her when we were performing as one,” she recalls. “There was ample time to kill at the hospital so I started researching.” In addition to reading about Makeba’s triumphant return to the nation in the year, after the release of Nelson Mandela (whom she had met when he was a young lawyer in the era), Seutin found that she had been a someone who overcame illness in her youth, that Makeba’s daughter Bongi died in labor in the year, and that because of her exile she hadn’t been able to be present at her parent’s funeral. “You see people and you look at their success and you overlook that they are facing challenges like anyone else,” says the choreographer.

Development and Concepts

These reflections went into the creation of the production (premiered in Brussels in 2023). Fortunately, Seutin’s mother’s therapy was effective, but the concept for the piece was to celebrate “loss, existence, and grief”. In this context, she highlights threads of Makeba’s biography like memories, and nods more generally to the idea of uprooting and loss today. Although it’s not explicit in the performance, she had in mind a second protagonist, a contemporary version who is a traveler. “And we gather as these other selves of personas connected to Miriam Makeba to greet this newcomer.”

Melodies of banishment … performers in the show.

In the performance, rather than being intoxicated by the shebeen’s local drink, the skilled dancers appear possessed by rhythm, in synthesis with the players on stage. Seutin’s choreography includes various forms of movement she has absorbed over the years, including from African nations, plus the international cast’ own vocabularies, including street styles like the form.

Honoring strength … the creator.

Seutin was surprised 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 heart attack on stage in the country.) Why should younger generations discover the legend? “I think she would motivate the youth to advocate what they believe in, expressing honesty,” remarks the choreographer. “But she did it very elegantly. She’d say something poignant and then perform a beautiful song.” Seutin wanted to take the same approach in this work. “Audiences observe movement and listen to beautiful songs, an element of entertainment, but mixed with strong messages and instances that hit. This is what I respect about her. Because if you are shouting too much, people won’t listen. They retreat. Yet she did it in a manner that you would receive it, and understand it, but still be blessed by her ability.”

• Mimi’s Shebeen is at the city, the dates