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“Discussing about Miriam Makeba in the nation, it’s like speaking about a queen,” explains Alesandra Seutin. Known as the Empress of African Song, the iconic artist additionally spent time in New York with jazz greats like Miles Davis and Duke Ellington. Beginning as a young person sent to work to support her family in Johannesburg, she later became a diplomat for the nation, then the country’s representative to the UN. An outspoken campaigner against segregation, she was the wife to a Black Panther. This rich story and impact inspire the choreographer’s new production, the performance, set for its British debut.

A Fusion of Movement, Sound, and Narration

The show merges dance, instrumental performances, and oral storytelling in a stage work that is not a simple biography but draws on Makeba’s history, especially her story of exile: after relocating to New York in the year, Makeba was barred from South Africa for 30 years due to her opposition to segregation. Later, she was excluded from the United States after marrying Black Panther activist Stokely Carmichael. The performance is like a ceremonial tribute, a reimagined memorial – part eulogy, some festivity, part provocation – with the fabulous South African singer the performer leading reviving Makeba’s songs to vibrant life.

Power and poise … Mimi’s Shebeen.

In the country, a informal gathering spot is an under-the-radar gathering place for locally made drinks and lively conversation, usually presided over by a host. Makeba’s mother the matriarch was a shebeen queen who was detained for illegally brewing alcohol when Miriam was 18 days old. Incapable of covering the penalty, Christina was incarcerated for six months, taking her infant with her, which is how her remarkable journey began – just one of the details the choreographer learned when researching her story. “Numerous tales!” says she, when they met in Brussels after a performance. Seutin’s parent is from Belgium and she was raised there before relocating to learn and labor in the United Kingdom, where she established her dance group Vocab Dance. Her parent would perform Makeba’s songs, such as Pata Pata and Malaika, when Seutin was a child, and dance to them in the home.

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

A decade ago, her parent had cancer and was in medical care in London. “I stopped working for three months to look after her and she was always requesting the singer. She was so happy when we were singing together,” she remembers. “There was ample time to kill at the facility so I started researching.” As well as reading about 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 era), she found that Makeba had been a breast cancer survivor in her teens, that Makeba’s daughter Bongi passed away in labor in the year, and that due to her banishment she hadn’t been able to attend her parent’s funeral. “Observing individuals and you focus on their achievements and you overlook that they are facing challenges like anyone else,” states the choreographer.

Creation and Themes

These reflections contributed to the making of the production (first staged in Brussels in the year). Thankfully, Seutin’s mother’s therapy was successful, but the concept for the work was to celebrate “loss, existence, and grief”. Within that, she pulls out elements of Makeba’s biography like memories, and nods more broadly to the theme of displacement and dispossession nowadays. Although it’s not overt in the show, Seutin had in mind a additional character, a modern-day Miriam who is a migrant. “Together, we assemble as these alter egos of personas connected to Miriam Makeba to welcome this newcomer.”

Melodies of banishment … musicians in the show.

In the show, rather than being inebriated by the shebeen’s home-brew, the skilled performers appear taken over by rhythm, in harmony with the musicians on the platform. Her choreography incorporates multiple styles of dance she has learned over the time, including from Rwanda, South Africa and Senegal, plus the international cast’ own vocabularies, including urban dances 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 died in 2008 after having a cardiac event on stage in the country.) Why should younger generations discover Mama Africa? “In my view she would inspire young people to stand for what they believe in, expressing honesty,” remarks Seutin. “However she accomplished this very gracefully. She expressed something meaningful and then perform a beautiful song.” Seutin aimed to adopt the similar method in this production. “Audiences observe movement and hear beautiful songs, an element of entertainment, but intertwined with strong messages and instances that resonate. This is what I respect about her. Since if you are being overly loud, people won’t listen. They back away. Yet she achieved it in a manner that you would accept it, and hear it, but still be graced by her ability.”

• The performance is at London, 22-24 October