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“When you speak about Miriam Makeba in the nation, it’s akin to referring about a royal figure,” explains the choreographer. Known as Mama Africa, the iconic artist also associated in New York with jazz greats like prominent artists. Starting as a teenager sent to work to provide for her relatives in the city, she later became a diplomat for Ghana, then Guinea’s official delegate to the UN. An vocal campaigner against segregation, she was the wife to a Black Panther. This rich life and legacy inspire the choreographer’s latest work, the performance, set for its British debut.

A Fusion of Dance, Music, and Spoken Word

The show merges movement, instrumental performances, and oral storytelling in a theatrical piece that is not a simple biography but draws on her past, especially her experience of banishment: after moving to New York in the year, Makeba was prohibited from her homeland for 30 years due to her opposition to segregation. Later, she was banned from the United States after marrying activist her spouse. The performance resembles a ceremonial tribute, a deconstructed funeral – some praise, some festivity, part provocation – with the fabulous South African singer the performer leading bringing Makeba’s songs to vibrant life.

Power and poise … Mimi’s Shebeen.

In the country, a informal gathering spot is an unofficial gathering place 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. Incapable of covering the penalty, Christina was incarcerated for six months, bringing her infant with her, which is how Miriam’s eventful life started – just one of the details the choreographer learned when studying Makeba’s life. “So many stories!” says Seutin, when we meet in Brussels after a performance. Her parent is from Belgium and she was raised there before relocating to study and work in the UK, where she founded her company Vocab Dance. Her South African mother would perform Makeba’s songs, such as the tunes, when Seutin was a youngster, and move along in the living room.

Melodies of liberation … Miriam Makeba sings at the venue in the year.

A ten years back, Seutin’s mother had cancer and was in medical care in London. “I stopped working for a quarter to look after her and she was always asking for the singer. She was so happy when we were performing as one,” she remembers. “There was ample time to kill at the hospital so I began investigating.” In addition to reading about Makeba’s triumphant return to the nation in 1990, after the freedom of Nelson Mandela (whom she had encountered when he was a legal professional in the era), she discovered that Makeba had been a someone who overcame illness in her teens, that her child the girl died in childbirth in 1985, and that due to her exile she hadn’t been able to attend her own mother’s funeral. “Observing individuals and you look at their achievements and you overlook that they are struggling like everyone,” says the choreographer.

Development and Themes

All these thoughts contributed to the making of the show (first staged in Brussels in the year). Fortunately, Seutin’s mother’s treatment was effective, but the idea for the piece was to honor “loss, existence, and grief”. In this context, Seutin pulls out threads of Makeba’s biography like memories, and nods more generally to the idea of uprooting and loss today. Although it’s not explicit in the performance, she had in mind a second protagonist, a contemporary version who is a traveler. “Together, we assemble as these other selves of personas linked with the icon to greet this young migrant.”

Melodies of banishment … 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 beat, in synthesis with the players on stage. Seutin’s dance composition includes various forms of movement she has absorbed over the years, including from Rwanda, South Africa and Senegal, plus the global performers’ personal styles, including street styles like krump.

Honoring strength … Alesandra Seutin.

She was surprised to find that some of the younger, non-South Africans in the group didn’t already know about the singer. (Makeba passed away in 2008 after having a cardiac event on stage in Italy.) Why should younger generations discover the legend? “In my view she would motivate young people to stand for what they are, expressing honesty,” remarks the choreographer. “But she did it very gracefully. She expressed something poignant and then perform a lovely melody.” She aimed to adopt the similar method in this production. “Audiences observe dancing and listen to beautiful songs, an element of entertainment, but mixed with strong messages and moments that hit. That’s what I respect about her. Because if you are being overly loud, people may ignore. They back away. Yet she did it in a manner that you would accept it, and hear it, but still be graced by her talent.”

• Mimi’s Shebeen is at London, the dates