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“Discussing about Miriam Makeba in South Africa, it’s similar to talking about a sovereign,” states Alesandra Seutin. Referred to as the Empress of African Song, Makeba also associated in Greenwich Village with renowned musicians like Miles Davis and Duke Ellington. Starting as a teenager sent to work to provide for her relatives in Johannesburg, she later served as an envoy for the nation, then the country’s representative to the UN. An outspoken campaigner against segregation, she was married to a Black Panther. This rich life and legacy inspire Seutin’s latest work, the performance, set for its UK premiere.

The Blend of Movement, Sound, and Narration

The show combines movement, instrumental performances, and spoken word in a theatrical piece that is not a simple biography but utilizes Makeba’s history, especially her story of exile: after relocating to New York in the year, Makeba was prohibited from South Africa for three decades due to her opposition to segregation. Subsequently, she was banned from the United States after wedding Black Panther activist her spouse. The performance resembles a ritual of remembrance, a reimagined memorial – part eulogy, some festivity, part provocation – with the exceptional South African singer the performer leading bringing Makeba’s songs to dynamic existence.

Strength and elegance … Mimi’s Shebeen.

In South Africa, a informal gathering spot is an under-the-radar gathering place for home-brewed liquor and lively conversation, usually presided over by a host. Makeba’s mother Christina was a proprietress who was detained for illegally brewing alcohol when Miriam was a newborn. Incapable of covering the penalty, she went to prison for six months, taking her baby with her, which is how Miriam’s remarkable journey began – just one of the details the choreographer discovered when researching her story. “So many stories!” says she, when they met in Brussels after a performance. Seutin’s parent is from Belgium and she mainly grew up there before moving to study and work in the United Kingdom, where she established her company Vocab Dance. Her parent would sing Makeba’s songs, such as Pata Pata and Malaika, when Seutin was a youngster, and dance to them in the living room.

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

A ten years back, her parent had the illness and was in medical care in London. “I paused my career for a quarter to take care of her and she was always requesting the singer. It delighted her when we were performing as one,” Seutin recalls. “There was ample time to pass at the hospital so I began investigating.” As well as learning of Makeba’s triumphant return to South Africa in the year, after the freedom of the leader (whom she had encountered when he was a young lawyer in the 1950s), Seutin discovered that Makeba had been a someone who overcame illness in her youth, that Makeba’s daughter the girl died in childbirth in the year, and that because of her exile she could not attend her own mother’s funeral. “You see people and you focus on their success and you overlook that they are struggling like everyone,” says the choreographer.

Development and Themes

All these thoughts contributed to the making of the production (premiered in the city in the year). Fortunately, Seutin’s mother’s treatment was successful, but the idea for the piece was to honor “death, life and mourning”. Within that, she highlights elements of Makeba’s biography like memories, and references more broadly to the idea of uprooting and loss today. Although 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 alter egos of characters linked with the icon to welcome this newcomer.”

Rhythms of exile … performers in Mimi’s Shebeen.

In the show, rather than being intoxicated by the shebeen’s local drink, the skilled performers appear possessed by rhythm, in harmony with the musicians on stage. Her dance composition includes multiple styles of movement she has learned over the years, including from Rwanda, South Africa and Senegal, plus the global performers’ personal styles, including urban dances like the form.

A celebration of resilience … Alesandra Seutin.

She was taken aback 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 cardiac event on the platform in Italy.) Why should younger generations discover Mama Africa? “In my view she would motivate the youth to advocate what they are, expressing honesty,” remarks the choreographer. “However she did it very elegantly. She’d say something poignant and then perform a beautiful song.” Seutin aimed to take the same approach in this work. “Audiences observe movement and hear melodies, an aspect of enjoyment, but intertwined with powerful ideas and moments that hit. This is what I admire about her. Because if you are being overly loud, people won’t listen. They back away. Yet she achieved it in a way that you would accept it, and hear it, but still be blessed by her ability.”

• The performance is at the city, the dates