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“If you talk about the legendary singer in South Africa, it’s like speaking about a sovereign,” states the choreographer. Known as the Empress of African Song, Makeba also spent time in New York with jazz greats like prominent artists. Starting as a young person dispatched to labor to support her family in Johannesburg, she eventually became a diplomat for Ghana, then the country’s representative to the UN. An vocal anti-apartheid activist, she was married to a Black Panther. Her remarkable life and legacy motivate the choreographer’s latest work, the performance, scheduled for its British debut.

The Fusion of Movement, Sound, and Narration

The show combines dance, instrumental performances, and spoken word in a theatrical piece that is not a straightforward biodrama but utilizes her past, particularly her experience of banishment: after moving to the city in the year, Makeba was prohibited from South Africa for 30 years due to her anti-apartheid stance. Subsequently, she was banned from the United States after marrying Black Panther activist Stokely Carmichael. The show is like a ritual of remembrance, a deconstructed funeral – part eulogy, some festivity, part provocation – with the exceptional South African singer Tutu Puoane at the centre bringing her music to dynamic existence.

Strength and elegance … Mimi’s Shebeen.

In South Africa, a shebeen is an unofficial venue for locally made drinks and lively conversation, usually presided over by a host. Her parent the matriarch was a shebeen queen who was arrested for producing drinks without permission when Miriam was a newborn. Unable to pay the penalty, Christina was incarcerated for half a year, taking her baby with her, which is how Miriam’s eventful life began – just one of the things Seutin discovered when studying Makeba’s life. “Numerous tales!” exclaims Seutin, when we meet in Brussels after a performance. Seutin’s parent is from Belgium and she mainly grew up there before relocating to study and work in the UK, where she established her company Vocab Dance. Her South African mother would sing her music, such as the tunes, when she was a child, and move along in the living room.

Songs of freedom … Miriam Makeba performs at Wembley Stadium in 1988.

A decade ago, her parent had cancer and was in medical care in the city. “I stopped working for three months to look after her and she was constantly requesting the singer. She was so happy when we were performing as one,” she recalls. “I had so much time to kill at the facility so I started researching.” As well as reading about Makeba’s triumphant return to the nation in the year, after the freedom of Nelson Mandela (whom she had encountered when he was a legal professional in the 1950s), Seutin discovered that Makeba had been a breast cancer survivor in her teens, that Makeba’s daughter Bongi died in childbirth in 1985, and that because of her banishment she could not be present at her own mother’s memorial. “Observing individuals and you focus on their achievements and you overlook that they are facing challenges like anyone else,” states Seutin.

Creation and Concepts

These reflections contributed to the creation of the production (premiered in the city in the year). Thankfully, Seutin’s mother’s treatment was successful, but the idea for the work was to celebrate “death, life and mourning”. In this context, she pulls out threads of her life story like flashbacks, and nods more generally to the theme of uprooting and loss nowadays. While it’s not overt in the show, she had in mind a second protagonist, a contemporary version who is a migrant. “Together, we assemble as these other selves of characters linked with Miriam Makeba to greet this young migrant.”

Melodies of banishment … musicians in the show.

In the show, rather than being intoxicated by the venue’s home-brew, the multi-talented performers appear taken over by rhythm, in harmony with the musicians on stage. Seutin’s choreography incorporates multiple styles of movement she has learned over the time, including from African nations, plus the international cast’ personal styles, including urban dances like the form.

Honoring strength … the creator.

Seutin was surprised to find that some of the younger, non-South Africans in the cast were unaware about the singer. (Makeba passed away in 2008 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,” says Seutin. “But she did it very elegantly. She’d say something poignant and then perform a beautiful song.” Seutin wanted to take the same approach in this work. “Audiences observe dancing and listen to beautiful songs, an element of entertainment, but mixed with strong messages and moments that hit. This is what I admire about her. Since if you are shouting too much, people may ignore. They retreat. But she did it in a way that you would receive it, and hear it, but still be blessed by her talent.”

• The performance is at London, 22-24 October