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“Discussing about Miriam Makeba in the nation, it’s like speaking about a sovereign,” explains the choreographer. Referred to as the Empress of African Song, the iconic artist also associated in Greenwich Village with jazz greats like prominent artists. Starting as a young person dispatched to labor to provide for her relatives in Johannesburg, she later served as an envoy for the nation, then Guinea’s representative to the UN. An vocal campaigner against segregation, she was married to a activist. Her rich life and legacy inspire the choreographer’s latest work, Mimi’s Shebeen, scheduled for its British debut.

A Blend of Movement, Sound, and Narration

The show combines movement, live music, and oral storytelling in a theatrical piece that isn’t a straightforward biodrama but utilizes Makeba’s history, especially her story of exile: after relocating to the city in 1959, Makeba was barred from South Africa for 30 years due to her anti-apartheid stance. Later, she was excluded from the US after marrying Black Panther activist Stokely Carmichael. The performance resembles a ceremonial tribute, a deconstructed funeral – part eulogy, part celebration, some challenge – with a fabulous South African singer Tutu Puoane leading bringing her music to vibrant life.

Strength and elegance … Mimi’s Shebeen.

In the country, a shebeen is an under-the-radar gathering place for locally made drinks and animated discussions, often managed by a shebeen queen. Her parent Christina was a proprietress who was detained for producing drinks without permission when Makeba was a newborn. Incapable of covering the fine, she was incarcerated for six months, bringing her baby with her, which is how Miriam’s remarkable journey began – just one of the things the choreographer discovered when researching Makeba’s life. “So many stories!” exclaims she, when they met in Brussels after a performance. Seutin’s father is Belgian and she was raised there before relocating to learn and labor in the United Kingdom, where she established her company Vocab Dance. Her parent would perform her music, such as the tunes, when Seutin was a youngster, and move along in the living room.

Melodies of liberation … the artist sings at Wembley Stadium in 1988.

A decade ago, her parent had the illness and was in hospital in the city. “I paused my career for a quarter to look after her and she was constantly requesting the singer. She was so happy when we were singing together,” she remembers. “I had so much time to kill at the hospital so I started researching.” In addition to reading about her victorious homecoming to the nation in the year, after the release of Nelson Mandela (whom she had encountered when he was a young lawyer in the era), she discovered that Makeba had been a breast cancer survivor in her teens, that Makeba’s daughter the girl passed away in labor in 1985, and that due to her banishment she could not attend her own mother’s funeral. “Observing individuals and you look at their achievements and you overlook that they are facing challenges like anyone else,” states Seutin.

Development and Concepts

These reflections went into the making of the show (first staged in the city in the year). Fortunately, her parent’s treatment 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 references more broadly to the idea of displacement and dispossession nowadays. While it’s not overt in the show, Seutin had in mind a second protagonist, a contemporary version who is a migrant. “And we gather as these alter egos of personas connected to the icon to welcome this newcomer.”

Melodies of banishment … musicians in the show.

In the performance, rather than being inebriated by the shebeen’s home-brew, the multi-talented performers appear taken over by rhythm, in harmony with the musicians on stage. Her choreography incorporates multiple styles of dance she has absorbed over the time, including from Rwanda, South Africa and Senegal, plus the international cast’ personal styles, including street styles like krump.

A celebration of resilience … the creator.

Seutin was surprised to find that some of the younger, non-South Africans in the group didn’t already know about the artist. (She passed away in 2008 after having a heart attack on stage in Italy.) Why should younger generations learn about the legend? “In my view she would motivate young people to stand for what they believe in, expressing honesty,” says the choreographer. “However she did it very elegantly. She expressed something poignant and then perform a lovely melody.” Seutin wanted to take the same approach in this production. “Audiences observe dancing and listen to beautiful songs, an element of entertainment, but mixed with strong messages and instances that hit. That’s what I admire about Miriam. Since if you are being overly loud, people won’t listen. They retreat. But she did it in a way that you would receive it, and hear it, but still be graced by her talent.”

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