Alesandra Seutin Brings UK Premiere of MIMI'S SHEBEEN To Sadler's Wells East
Performances run Wednesday 22 – Friday 24 October 2025.
This October, Sadler's Wells Associate Artist Alesandra Seutin will bring Mimi's Shebeen, her collaboration with KVS (Royal Flemish Theatre, Brussels), to Sadler's Wells East in its UK premiere.
The genesis of Mimi's Shebeen began when Seutin was a child, listening to her mother singing the legendary music of Miriam Makeba, particularly her song “Novema”. An iconic music artist and civil rights activist from South Africa who was banished from her home country, Miriam Makeba is often heralded as “Mama Africa" and remembered as much for her music as she is for her anti-Apartheid activism.
Inspired by Miriam Makeba's legacy, Seutin has created Mimi's Shebeen, infused with her signature blend of dynamic movement, singing, poetry and music. The audience is invited into a deconstructed Shebeen of Seutin's own – a space for women to celebrate, interact and move freely together. In Apartheid-era South Africa, Shebeens were underground spaces for Black South Africans to gather and laugh, cry, discuss politics, drink, talk and escape – just for a moment – the oppressive regime. Often run by women, or “Shebeen Queens”, these spaces were a vital haven where self-expression and community were centred and celebrated.
Rooted firmly in this rich history of struggle, defiance and solidarity, interwoven with tales of immigration, exile, and homecoming, Mimi's Shebeen is a moving and timely reminder of the power and importance of shared humanity.
In Mimi's Shebeen, Seutin collaborates with major artists of African heritage: Lebo Mashile and Lisette Ma Neza (text), Angelo Moustapha and Zouratié Koné (music), and singer Tutu Puoane. The production is performed by dancers from Seutin's company Vocab Dance.
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).
Alesandra Seutin said "I have had a long relationship with Sadler's Wells stretching back to 2010. This relationship has included collaborations, works on stage, film commissions, twice a guest Artistic Director of the National Youth Dance Company, and now as Associate Artist. So, I am excited to be bringing my latest work Mimi's Shebeen to have its London premiere on their new stage in Stratford at Sadler's Wells East. This work pushes beyond dance to encompass all that I am as a maker: movement, spoken word and the music. In the shebeen, audiences will experience a song for the silenced and a dance for the departed."
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