Alesandra Seutin & KVSMimi’s Shebeen
Freesheet
About the show
Mimi’s Shebeen is a poetic dance-theatre production by KVS artist and leading figure Alesandra Seutin. Through dance, text, song, and music, she draws the audience into the depths of a deconstructed Shebeen* and on a journey brimming with life, struggle, resilience, and determination.
Inspired by the South African singer Miriam Makeba, who was banned from her own country, Seutin uses her legacy as a political activist to tell stories of exile, migration, and humanity.
Mimi’s Shebeen bears all the hallmarks of Alesandra Seutin’s unique hybrid dance-theatre style. Text is provided by Lebo Mashile and Lisette Ma Neza, music by Angelo Moustapha and Zouratié Koné, and vocals by Tutu Puoane.
*What is a shebeen?
Under apartheid, Black people were forbidden to drink or to talk about politics; they were expected only to work. To find ways of gathering nonetheless, activists created underground huts and bars, complete with lookouts and storage spaces for supplies. They brewed umqombothi, or maize beer. Whenever the police discovered a shebeen, it was shut down immediately and everyone involved was arrested. Most shebeens were run by women, who became known as shebeen queens.
Black Birds – Lebo Mashile
Black birds reach for the stars
Climbing into wheels of change
Gliding on silver wings
in the cargo holds of planes
Black birds as mothers and children
Black birds both free and enslaved
Black birds cross seas with invisible chains
We migrate in endless circles
A generational inheritance
Flying closer to the sun
In search of better circumstances
Black birds are the footprints of history
Following the continent’s mineral wealth
If Black birds can keep the West alive
Why can’t we fly there ourselves
A woman without a country
My voice became my passport
A child without hope in her own home
Flight is a bird’s response
Birds on trucks crossing the desert
Birds in ships on the Mediterranean Sea
Birds controlled by mafias in port towns
Where they believed freedom would be
A tiny bird stows away
Were no soul can find
A child robbed of the air
She never saw herself fly
She never saw her own beauty
As her wings learned to soar
She never saw the headlines she made
As her flight began on foreign shores
Black bird falling
Black bird in flight
Black bird singing
Circles around the sky
Black bird of wonder
Black bird of majesty
Black bird of light
Black birds travelling between worlds
Black birds stretching the limits of time
If there is a utopia for genius creatures that fly
Where our ancestors receive us
From the blanket of the sky
It is there that we will heal
Where we will understand why
Black birds can never stop travelling so high
The fire next time – Lisette Maneza
Here ends my ecosystem
my borders
my reproduction
I scream:
I am the birthplace of human race
As I become
the last migrant
the land between us burns
now it’s my time – to never arrive
you wait for us
you wait for me
you close your borders, waiting for us
we die before we age
all the women inside me, die
the Nile dies
The sahara
we find death lying in between migrants
The one that never arrived
The one that never arrived, that never arrived
you wait for us
you wait for me
you close your borders, waiting for us
we die before we age
The one that never arrived
Suspended in water , suspended in air
I am the last migrant
Suspended in fire
this time, no more water
Fire next time, the fire next time
you wait for us
you wait for me
you close your borders, waiting for us
we die before we age
you wait for us
you wait for me
you close your borders, waiting for us
we will never be there
About Alesandra Seutin
Alesandra Seutin was born in Harare, grew up in Brussels and is now based in London. She trained at Trinity Laban Conservatoire of Music & Dance and Middlesex University before studying under Germaine Acogny at the famed École des Sables in Senegal. Founder of Vocab Dance, she is also a Sadler’s Wells Associate Artist and was Co-Artistic Director of the École des Sables from 2020 – 2024, and between 2019 – 2022 was a guest artistic director for the UK’s National Youth Dance Company (NYDC).
Artistic Team & Credits
Concept & Choreography Alesandra Seutin
Music Angelo Moustapha
Text Lisette Ma Neza & Lebo Mashile
Performance Tutu Puoane, Nandi Bhebhe, Kopano Maroga, Nosiphiwo Samente, Kenza Deba, Rose Sall Sao
Dramaturgy Gerardo Salinas
Scenography Stef Stessel
Assistant Scenography Ine Van Bortel
Costumes Caroline Fainke
Soundscape Hans Mullens
Light Design Margareta Andersen & Stef Stessel
Sound Design Diederik De Cock
Vocal Coach Randolph Matthews
Production Manager Tanja Vrancken
Stage Director Raphael Noel
Assistance of the Choreographer Nandi Bhebhe
Musical Support Tarang Cissokho
Research Kopano Maroga
Workshop Facilitator WORKSHOP FACILITATOR Rokia Bamba
Additional Support Uprise Rebel
Surtitling Inge Floré
Translation Anne Vanderschueren, Alex Stockman
Distribution & Tour Direction Cecilia Kuska & Inge Jooris
Production KVS Co-production Perpodium, Sadler’s Wells London with the support of the Belgian federal government through Cronos Invest
You may also like
AIR DE TEMPS
A cinematic dance film by Alesandra Seutin and Ben Williams about the urgent need to speak out, free to watch on Digital Stage.
52 Portraits
Watch Alesandra Seutin as part of 52 Portraits – a remarkable series featuring dance artists from across the globe, free on Digital Stage.