Mimi’s Shebeen is a powerful new theatre production by KVS face and artist Alesandra Seutin with her company Vocab Dance.
Through dance, text, song and music, she takes the audience into the caverns of a deconstructed Shebeen* and on a journey full of life, struggle, perseverance and determination.
Inspired by South African singer Miriam Makeba and exile from her home country, Seutin taps into the legacy of Makeba’s work as a political activist to bring stories of exile, immigration and human rights.
In Mimi’s Shebeen, the unique and distinctive style of Alesandra Seutin’s afro-centric dance theatre is evident. Lisette Ma Neza and Lebo Mashile provides the text, Angelo Moustapha and Tarang Cissokho the music and Tutu Puoane sings.
Where do you get the strength to hold your head high when you are exiled from your motherland, separated from your mother, your people and your roots? How do you survive – and even thrive – so far away from everything and everyone you know?
*A shebeen is an unofficial café in South African townships
Credits
CONCEPT & CHOREOGRAPHY – Alesandra Seutin
MUSIC – Angelo Moustapha & Tarang Cissokho
TEXT – Lizette Ma Neza & Lebo Mashile
PERFORMERS – Tutu Puoane, Nandi Bhebhe, Kopano Maroga, Valerie Ebuwa, Hendrickx, Elisa van der Kust
DRAMATURGY – Gerardo Salinas
SCENOGRAPHY – Stef Stessel
COSTUMES – Caroline Fainke
SOUNDSCAPE – Hans Mullens
PRODUCTION MANAGER – Ella De Gregoriis
ASSISTANT TO THE CHOREOGRAPHER – Nandi Bhebhe
RESEARCH – Kopano Maroga
ADDITIONAL SUPPORT – Uprise Rebel
TRANSLATION – Isabelle Grynberg, Alex Stockman
PRODUCTION – Vocab Dance & KVS
COPRODUCTION– Perpodium
WITH THE SUPPORT OF the Belgian federal government through Cronos Invest
