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“When you speak about Miriam Makeba in South Africa, it’s akin to referring about a royal figure,” states Alesandra Seutin. Referred to as Mama Africa, Makeba additionally associated in New York with jazz greats like Miles Davis and Duke Ellington. Starting as a teenager dispatched to labor to support her family in Johannesburg, she eventually served as an envoy for the nation, then the country’s official delegate to the United Nations. An outspoken campaigner against segregation, she was the wife to a Black Panther. Her rich story and impact motivate the choreographer’s latest work, the performance, set for its British debut.

The Fusion of Dance, Music, and Spoken Word

Mimi’s Shebeen merges dance, live music, and spoken word in a stage work that is not a straightforward biodrama but draws on her past, particularly her experience of banishment: after moving to the city in 1959, Makeba was prohibited from South Africa for 30 years due to her anti-apartheid stance. Subsequently, she was excluded from the US after wedding activist Stokely Carmichael. The show is like a ritual of remembrance, a deconstructed funeral – some praise, some festivity, some challenge – with a fabulous South African singer Tutu Puoane leading bringing her music to vibrant life.

Power and poise … the production.

In South Africa, a shebeen is an unofficial gathering place for home-brewed liquor and animated discussions, usually managed by a host. Her parent Christina was a shebeen queen who was arrested for producing drinks without permission when Miriam was 18 days old. Incapable of covering the penalty, Christina was incarcerated for half a year, bringing her infant with her, which is how Miriam’s eventful life began – just one of the details Seutin discovered when studying her story. “So many stories!” says Seutin, when we meet in Brussels after a show. Seutin’s parent is Belgian and she mainly grew up there before moving to study and work in the UK, where she founded her dance group Vocab Dance. Her South African mother would perform Makeba’s songs, such as the tunes, when Seutin was a child, and move along in the living room.

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

A ten years back, her parent had cancer and was in medical care in the city. “I stopped working for a quarter to look after her and she was constantly asking for Miriam Makeba. It delighted her when we were singing together,” Seutin remembers. “There was ample time to pass at the hospital so I started researching.” In addition to learning of Makeba’s triumphant return to the nation in 1990, after the release of the leader (whom she had met when he was a legal professional in the 1950s), Seutin discovered that she had been a someone who overcame illness in her youth, that Makeba’s daughter the girl died in childbirth in the year, and that due to her exile she hadn’t been able to be present at her parent’s memorial. “Observing individuals and you look at their achievements and you forget that they are struggling like everyone,” states the choreographer.

Creation and Themes

These reflections contributed to the making of the show (premiered in Brussels in the year). Thankfully, Seutin’s mother’s treatment was successful, but the concept for the piece was to honor “death, life and mourning”. In this context, she pulls out elements of her life story like flashbacks, and nods more broadly to the theme of uprooting and loss today. While it’s not explicit in the performance, Seutin had in mind a additional character, a contemporary version who is a migrant. “Together, we assemble as these other selves of characters connected to the icon to welcome this newcomer.”

Rhythms of exile … musicians in Mimi’s Shebeen.

In the show, rather than being intoxicated by the shebeen’s home-brew, the skilled performers appear taken over by beat, in harmony with the musicians on the platform. Seutin’s dance composition includes multiple styles of movement she has absorbed over the years, including from African nations, plus the global performers’ personal styles, including urban dances like the form.

A celebration of resilience … the creator.

Seutin was taken aback to find that some of the younger, non-South Africans in the group didn’t already know about the singer. (Makeba died in the year after having a cardiac event on the platform in the country.) Why should new audiences discover Mama Africa? “I think she would motivate young people to advocate what they believe in, expressing honesty,” remarks Seutin. “However she did it very gracefully. She expressed something poignant and then sing a beautiful song.” Seutin wanted to take the similar method in this work. “We see movement and hear melodies, an aspect of entertainment, but mixed with strong messages and instances that hit. This is what I respect about Miriam. Since if you are being overly loud, people won’t listen. They retreat. Yet she did it in a way that you would accept it, and hear it, but still be graced by her ability.”

• The performance is showing in London, 22-24 October