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“When you speak about the legendary singer in the nation, it’s akin to referring about a queen,” remarks Alesandra Seutin. Called the Empress of African Song, the iconic artist also associated in New York with jazz greats like Miles Davis and Duke Ellington. Beginning as a teenager dispatched to labor to provide for her relatives in the city, she eventually became a diplomat for Ghana, then the country’s representative to the United Nations. An outspoken campaigner against segregation, she was the wife to a Black Panther. Her rich story and impact inspire the choreographer’s latest work, the performance, scheduled for its UK premiere.

The Blend of Movement, Sound, and Narration

The show combines dance, instrumental performances, and spoken word in a stage work that is not a straightforward biodrama but draws on her past, particularly her experience of banishment: after relocating to the city in the year, she was barred from South Africa for 30 years due to her opposition to segregation. Subsequently, she was banned from the US after marrying activist Stokely Carmichael. The performance resembles a ritual of remembrance, a deconstructed funeral – part eulogy, some festivity, some challenge – with a exceptional South African singer the performer leading bringing Makeba’s songs to vibrant life.

Strength and elegance … the production.

In the country, a shebeen is an under-the-radar gathering place for locally made drinks and animated discussions, usually presided over by a host. Makeba’s mother the matriarch was a proprietress who was arrested for illegally brewing alcohol when Makeba was a newborn. Unable to pay the fine, Christina was incarcerated for half a year, taking her baby with her, which is how Miriam’s remarkable journey began – just one of the things the choreographer learned when studying Makeba’s life. “So many stories!” exclaims Seutin, when they met in the city after a performance. Her father is Belgian and she was raised there before moving to study and work in the UK, where she founded her company Vocab Dance. Her South African mother would sing her music, such as the tunes, when she was a youngster, and move along in the living room.

Melodies of liberation … the artist sings at the venue in the year.

A decade ago, her parent had cancer and was in hospital in the city. “I stopped working for three months to look after her and she was always asking for the singer. She was so happy when we were performing as one,” she recalls. “I had so much time to pass at the hospital so I started researching.” In addition to reading about Makeba’s triumphant return to the nation in the year, after the freedom of the leader (whom she had met when he was a young lawyer in the era), Seutin discovered that she had been a breast cancer survivor in her teens, that her child the girl passed away in labor in 1985, and that due to her exile she hadn’t been able to be present at her own mother’s memorial. “Observing individuals and you look at their success and you overlook that they are struggling like anyone else,” says Seutin.

Development and Concepts

These reflections went into the making of the show (premiered in the city in the year). Fortunately, her parent’s treatment was successful, but the concept for the work was to honor “loss, existence, and grief”. Within that, Seutin highlights elements of Makeba’s biography like memories, and references more broadly to the idea of displacement and dispossession today. While it’s not explicit in the performance, she had in mind a second protagonist, a modern-day Miriam who is a migrant. “Together, we assemble as these alter egos of characters linked with Miriam Makeba to welcome this young migrant.”

Melodies of banishment … performers in the show.

In the performance, rather than being intoxicated by the venue’s local drink, the skilled performers appear possessed by beat, in synthesis with the players on stage. Seutin’s dance composition incorporates multiple styles of dance she has learned over the time, including from African nations, plus the global performers’ own vocabularies, including street styles like krump.

A celebration of resilience … the creator.

She was surprised to find that some of the younger, non-South Africans in the group were unaware about the artist. (Makeba passed away in the year after having a cardiac event on stage in Italy.) Why should younger generations learn about the legend? “In my view she would inspire the youth to stand for what they are, speaking the truth,” remarks Seutin. “However she accomplished this very gracefully. She’d say something poignant and then perform a beautiful song.” Seutin wanted to adopt the same approach in this production. “We see movement and hear melodies, an element of entertainment, but intertwined with powerful ideas and moments that hit. That’s what I respect about her. Because if you are being overly loud, people may ignore. They retreat. Yet she achieved it in a manner that you would accept it, and hear it, but still be graced by her talent.”

• Mimi’s Shebeen is showing in London, 22-24 October