Honoring Miriam Makeba: A Journey of a Fearless Artist Told in a Daring Dance Drama

“When you speak about Miriam Makeba in South Africa, it’s like speaking about a royal figure,” explains Alesandra Seutin. Referred to as Mama Africa, the iconic artist additionally associated in Greenwich Village with renowned musicians like Miles Davis and Duke Ellington. Starting as a young person sent to work 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 story and impact inspire Seutin’s latest work, Mimi’s Shebeen, set for its British debut.

The Fusion of Dance, Music, and Spoken Word

The show combines movement, live music, and spoken word in a stage work that isn’t a straightforward biodrama but draws on her past, especially her experience of banishment: after moving to New York in 1959, she was prohibited from South Africa for 30 years due to her anti-apartheid stance. Later, she was banned from the United States after marrying activist Stokely Carmichael. The show is like a ceremonial tribute, a deconstructed funeral – some praise, part celebration, some challenge – with the exceptional vocalist Tutu Puoane at the centre reviving Makeba’s songs to vibrant life.

Strength and elegance … the production.

In South Africa, a shebeen is an under-the-radar venue for locally made drinks and animated discussions, usually managed by a shebeen queen. Her parent the matriarch was a proprietress who was arrested for producing drinks without permission when Miriam was a newborn. Incapable of covering the fine, she was incarcerated for half a year, bringing her infant with her, which is how her eventful life began – just one of the details the choreographer discovered when researching Makeba’s life. “So many stories!” exclaims Seutin, when they met in the city after a show. Seutin’s father 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 her music, such as the tunes, when Seutin was a youngster, and dance to them in the living room.

Songs of freedom … Miriam Makeba sings at the venue in the year.

A decade ago, Seutin’s mother had cancer and was in medical care in London. “I stopped working for three months to look after her and she was always requesting Miriam Makeba. She was so happy when we were performing as one,” Seutin remembers. “There was ample time to kill at the facility so I began investigating.” As well as reading about her victorious homecoming to South Africa in the year, after the freedom of the leader (whom she had met when he was a legal professional in the era), Seutin discovered that she had been a breast cancer survivor 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 attend her parent’s memorial. “Observing individuals and you focus on their achievements and you forget that they are facing challenges like anyone else,” says the choreographer.

Development and Concepts

All these thoughts contributed to the creation of the production (premiered in Brussels in the year). Fortunately, her parent’s therapy was successful, but the idea for the work was to celebrate “death, life and mourning”. Within that, Seutin pulls out elements of her life story like memories, and references more generally to the idea of uprooting and loss nowadays. While it’s not explicit in the performance, Seutin had in mind a additional character, a modern-day Miriam who is a traveler. “And we gather as these other selves of personas linked with Miriam Makeba to greet this young migrant.”

Rhythms of exile … musicians in the show.

In the show, rather than being inebriated by the shebeen’s local drink, the multi-talented dancers appear taken over by rhythm, in synthesis with the players on stage. Seutin’s choreography includes multiple styles of dance she has absorbed over the time, including from African nations, plus the global performers’ personal styles, including street styles 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 cast were unaware about the singer. (Makeba died in the year after having a heart attack on the platform in the country.) Why should new audiences discover the legend? “I think she would motivate young people to advocate what they believe in, expressing honesty,” remarks Seutin. “But she did it very gracefully. She expressed something poignant and then perform a lovely melody.” Seutin wanted to adopt the same approach in this production. “We see dancing and hear melodies, an aspect of entertainment, but mixed with strong messages and instances that resonate. This is what I respect about her. Because if you are being overly loud, people won’t listen. They back away. But she achieved it in a way that you would receive it, and hear it, but still be blessed by her talent.”

• Mimi’s Shebeen is at the city, the dates