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“Discussing about Miriam Makeba in the nation, it’s akin to referring about a queen,” states Alesandra Seutin. Called the Empress of African Song, the iconic artist also spent time in Greenwich Village with jazz greats like Miles Davis and Duke Ellington. Starting as a teenager sent to work to support her family in Johannesburg, she eventually became a diplomat for the nation, then the country’s representative to the United Nations. An outspoken anti-apartheid activist, she was the wife to a activist. This rich life and legacy inspire the choreographer’s latest work, the performance, scheduled for its UK premiere.

The Fusion of Dance, Music, and Spoken Word

The show combines movement, instrumental performances, and spoken word in a stage work that isn’t a straightforward biodrama but utilizes Makeba’s history, especially her story of exile: after moving to New York in the year, Makeba was prohibited from her homeland for 30 years due to her opposition to segregation. Subsequently, she was excluded from the US after wedding activist her spouse. The performance is like a ritual of remembrance, a reimagined memorial – some praise, part celebration, part provocation – with a fabulous South African singer Tutu Puoane at the centre bringing her music to dynamic existence.

Strength and elegance … the production.

In the country, a informal gathering spot is an under-the-radar venue for locally made drinks and lively conversation, usually managed by a host. Her parent the matriarch was a proprietress who was arrested for producing drinks without permission when Makeba was 18 days old. Unable to pay the fine, she was incarcerated for six months, taking her infant with her, which is how Miriam’s remarkable journey began – just one of the details Seutin discovered when studying Makeba’s life. “So many stories!” says Seutin, when they met in Brussels after a show. Seutin’s father is from Belgium and she mainly grew up there before relocating to study and work in the UK, where she established her dance group the ensemble. Her parent would sing her music, such as Pata Pata and Malaika, when she was a child, and move along in the living room.

Songs of freedom … Miriam Makeba performs at Wembley Stadium in the year.

A decade ago, Seutin’s mother had the illness and was in hospital in the city. “I stopped working for a quarter to look after her and she was constantly asking for the singer. She was so happy when we were performing as one,” she remembers. “I had so much time to pass at the hospital so I started researching.” In addition to reading about her victorious homecoming to the nation in 1990, after the freedom of Nelson Mandela (whom she had met when he was a legal professional in the era), Seutin found that she had been a someone who overcame illness in her teens, that her child Bongi died in childbirth in the year, and that due to her exile she could not attend her own mother’s memorial. “You see people and you look at their achievements and you overlook that they are struggling like everyone,” states Seutin.

Development and Concepts

These reflections went into the making of the production (first staged in the city in the year). Thankfully, Seutin’s mother’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 memories, and nods more broadly to the theme of displacement and dispossession today. Although it’s not overt in the show, she had in mind a additional character, a modern-day Miriam who is a migrant. “Together, we assemble as these other selves of characters linked with Miriam Makeba to welcome this young migrant.”

Rhythms of exile … performers in Mimi’s Shebeen.

In the performance, rather than being inebriated by the shebeen’s home-brew, the multi-talented performers appear possessed by rhythm, in synthesis with the musicians on stage. Seutin’s dance composition includes various forms of movement she has absorbed over the time, including from Rwanda, South Africa and Senegal, plus the international cast’ personal styles, 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 were unaware about the singer. (She died in the year after having a heart attack on stage in Italy.) Why should younger generations discover the legend? “In my view she would inspire young people to advocate what they are, speaking the truth,” says the choreographer. “But she did it very elegantly. She’d say something poignant and then sing a beautiful song.” She aimed to adopt the similar method in this production. “We see movement and listen to melodies, an element of entertainment, but mixed with strong messages and instances that hit. This is what I respect about her. Since if you are shouting too much, people won’t listen. They back away. Yet she did it in a way that you would accept it, and hear it, but still be blessed by her ability.”

• Mimi’s Shebeen is showing in London, the dates