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“Discussing about the legendary singer in South Africa, it’s like speaking about a royal figure,” states the choreographer. Referred to as the Empress of African Song, the iconic artist additionally associated in New York with jazz greats like prominent artists. Beginning as a teenager sent to work to support her family in the city, she eventually became a diplomat for the nation, then the country’s official delegate to the UN. An vocal anti-apartheid activist, she was the wife to a Black Panther. This remarkable life and legacy motivate the choreographer’s latest work, Mimi’s Shebeen, scheduled for its UK premiere.

The Fusion of Movement, Sound, and Narration

The show combines movement, live music, and spoken word in a stage work that is not a straightforward biodrama but draws on Makeba’s history, particularly her story of exile: after moving to New York in 1959, she was prohibited from South Africa for three decades due to her opposition to segregation. Subsequently, she was banned from the United States after marrying Black Panther activist Stokely Carmichael. The performance is like a ritual of remembrance, a deconstructed funeral – part eulogy, some festivity, part provocation – with a fabulous South African singer the performer leading reviving Makeba’s songs to vibrant life.

Strength and elegance … Mimi’s Shebeen.

In South Africa, a shebeen is an under-the-radar venue for home-brewed liquor and lively conversation, usually managed by a host. Her parent Christina was a proprietress who was arrested for producing drinks without permission when Makeba was a newborn. Unable to pay the fine, Christina went to prison for half a year, bringing her infant with her, which is how her eventful life started – just one of the details the choreographer discovered when researching Makeba’s life. “So many stories!” exclaims she, when we meet in Brussels after a performance. Her father is from Belgium and she was raised there before moving to learn and labor in the United Kingdom, where she established her company the ensemble. Her parent would sing her music, such as Pata Pata and Malaika, when Seutin was a youngster, and move along in the home.

Songs of freedom … Miriam Makeba performs at the venue in 1988.

A ten years back, her parent had cancer and was in hospital in the city. “I paused my career for three months to look after her and she was always requesting the singer. She was so happy when we were performing as one,” Seutin remembers. “I had so much time to kill at the hospital so I started researching.” As well as learning of Makeba’s triumphant return to the nation in 1990, after the release of Nelson Mandela (whom she had encountered when he was a legal professional in the era), she found that Makeba had been a breast cancer survivor in her teens, that her child the girl died in labor in the year, and that because of her banishment she hadn’t been able to attend her parent’s memorial. “You see people and you focus on their success and you overlook that they are facing challenges like anyone else,” states Seutin.

Creation and Themes

All these thoughts went into the making of the production (premiered in Brussels in 2023). Thankfully, Seutin’s mother’s therapy was successful, but the idea for the work was to honor “loss, existence, and grief”. Within that, she pulls out elements of her life story like memories, and nods more broadly to the idea of uprooting and loss nowadays. While it’s not overt in the show, 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 home-brew, the multi-talented dancers appear taken over by rhythm, in harmony with the musicians on stage. Seutin’s dance composition includes multiple styles of dance she has absorbed over the years, including from African nations, plus the international cast’ personal styles, including urban dances like krump.

Honoring strength … the creator.

Seutin was surprised to find that some of the newer, international in the cast didn’t already know about the singer. (Makeba died in the year after having a cardiac event on stage in Italy.) Why should new audiences discover the legend? “In my view she would inspire the youth to stand for what they are, expressing honesty,” says the choreographer. “But she accomplished this very gracefully. She’d say something poignant and then sing a beautiful song.” Seutin aimed to adopt the similar method in this work. “Audiences observe movement and hear beautiful songs, an aspect of enjoyment, but mixed with strong messages and moments that hit. This is what I respect about her. Since if you are being overly loud, people won’t listen. They back away. But she did it in a manner that you would receive it, and understand it, but still be blessed by her talent.”

• The performance is showing in London, the dates