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“If you talk about the legendary singer in South Africa, it’s similar to talking about a sovereign,” remarks Alesandra Seutin. Referred to as Mama Africa, Makeba also spent time in Greenwich Village with jazz greats like Miles Davis and Duke Ellington. Beginning as a young person dispatched to labor to provide for her relatives in Johannesburg, she later served as an envoy for Ghana, then Guinea’s official delegate to the United Nations. An outspoken anti-apartheid activist, she was the wife to a Black Panther. Her rich life and legacy inspire the choreographer’s new production, the performance, set for its British debut.

The Blend of Dance, Music, and Spoken Word

The show merges movement, instrumental performances, and spoken word in a stage work that isn’t a straightforward biodrama but utilizes her past, especially her story of exile: after relocating to New York in 1959, she was barred from her homeland for three decades due to her anti-apartheid stance. Subsequently, she was excluded from the US after marrying Black Panther activist Stokely Carmichael. The performance is like a ceremonial tribute, a reimagined memorial – part eulogy, part celebration, part provocation – with a exceptional South African singer Tutu Puoane at the centre reviving her music to vibrant life.

Power and poise … the production.

In South Africa, a shebeen is an under-the-radar venue for locally made drinks and lively conversation, often presided over by a host. Makeba’s mother Christina was a proprietress who was arrested for illegally brewing alcohol when Makeba was a newborn. Unable to pay the fine, Christina went to prison for half a year, taking her baby with her, which is how her remarkable journey started – just one of the details the choreographer learned when researching Makeba’s life. “Numerous tales!” exclaims she, when they met in Brussels after a performance. Her father is from Belgium and she was raised there before moving to learn and labor in the UK, where she founded her dance group Vocab Dance. Her South African mother would sing her music, such as the tunes, when Seutin was a child, and move along in the home.

Melodies of liberation … Miriam Makeba sings at Wembley Stadium in 1988.

A decade ago, her parent had the illness and was in medical care in London. “I paused my career for a quarter to take care of her and she was constantly 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 started researching.” In addition to learning of Makeba’s triumphant return to South Africa in the year, after the release of the leader (whom she had met when he was a young lawyer in the 1950s), Seutin discovered that Makeba had been a someone who overcame illness in her youth, that her child Bongi died in childbirth in the year, and that because of her banishment she could not be present at her parent’s memorial. “You see people and you focus on their achievements and you overlook that they are facing challenges like everyone,” states Seutin.

Creation and Themes

These reflections contributed to the making of the production (first staged in Brussels in the year). Fortunately, her parent’s therapy was effective, but the concept for the piece was to celebrate “loss, existence, and grief”. Within that, Seutin highlights elements of her life story like memories, and nods more generally to the theme of displacement and dispossession nowadays. Although it’s not explicit in the performance, she had in mind a additional character, a modern-day Miriam who is a migrant. “Together, we assemble as these alter egos of characters linked with the icon to greet this newcomer.”

Rhythms of exile … performers in the show.

In the show, rather than being intoxicated by the shebeen’s local drink, the skilled dancers appear possessed by rhythm, in synthesis with the musicians on stage. Seutin’s dance composition incorporates various forms of dance she has learned over the years, including from African nations, plus the international cast’ personal styles, including street styles like krump.

Honoring strength … Alesandra Seutin.

Seutin was surprised to find that some of the newer, international in the cast didn’t already know about the singer. (She died in the year after having a cardiac event on the platform in Italy.) Why should younger generations discover the legend? “I think she would motivate young people to advocate what they believe in, expressing honesty,” remarks the choreographer. “But she did it very gracefully. She expressed something meaningful and then sing a lovely melody.” She wanted to take the same approach in this work. “We see dancing and hear beautiful songs, an aspect of entertainment, but intertwined with powerful ideas and instances that hit. This is what I respect about Miriam. Because if you are being overly loud, people may ignore. They retreat. But she did it in a manner that you would accept it, and understand it, but still be graced by her talent.”

• The performance is showing in the city, 22-24 October