Mimi’s Shebeen

Mimi’s Shebeen is a powerful new theatre production by KVS face and artist Alesandra Seutin and her company Vocab Dance. Through dance, text, singing and music, she takes the audience into the depths of a deconstructed Shebeen* and on a journey full of life, struggle, perseverance and determination.

Inspired by the South-African singer Miriam Makeba and her exile from her own country, Seutin uses the legacy of Makeba’s work as a political activist to convey stories of exile, immigration and human rights.

Mimi’s Shebeen will infuse the unique and unmistakable signatory style of Seutin’s Afro-Centric Dance Theatre. Lisette Ma Neza provides the text, Angelo Moustapha and Tarang Cissokho the music, and Tutu Puoane sings.

Where do you find the strength to keep your head held high when you have been exiled from your motherland, separated from your mother, your people and your roots? How do you survive – flourish, even – so far away from everyone and everything you know?

*A shebeen is an unlicensed bar in the South African townships.

“Together with a superb ensemble full of her own signatures, Seutin's choreographic vocabulary manages to infuse the 'collective individuality' of African heritage into a multidimensional discourse anchored in the local and contemporary performing arts field.” — #jury23

•  Alesandra Seutin is an award-winning multidisciplinary performance artist and creator, whose focus is exploring movement as a foundation for theatre, media and site-specific works. The daughter of South African and Belgian parents, Alesandra was born in Harare, Zimbabwe. She calls herself an 'Afropean'. An inspirational leader with a multifaceted career spanning two decades, she has reached global audiences through her work as an artistic director, choreographer, performer, mentor, teacher, movement director, dramaturg and writer for performance and music.