Leading up to the performance, Show do Cafe, the staircase is bunched up with excited audience members eager to get their lips on some Brazilian coffee offered in the foyer by the performers themselves dressed in long white skirts.  This simple offering served with a smile meant everything to these coffee and theatre lovers, and a lot of them were coming to the show for a second time.  The show is yet to begin but we are already high on social interaction and caffeine, and it`s a vibe we all know and love.  We ask ourselves, could this show really be the answer to everything ? Why don`t we drink more coffee in the evenings ?

Dancer Sefa Tunupopo sets the scene sitting centre stage under a warm orange haze gently drumming and smiling at the audience.  Onstage we are teased by seeing an acoustic guitar, a tambourine, and plenty of large coffee sacks, so one can only assume that we`re in Brazil, only the worlds largest coffee producer !

The buzzing crowd perk their ears up when serenaded by NZ-born Samoan Tenor Lila Junior Crichton, then the talented Brazilian singer-songwriter Anna Resende, known for her mastering of traditional Brazilian music, so we sway as she treats us with a classic. 

Kiwi-Samoan violinist Hayden Nickel reveals within one stroke that he is a world class classical musician.  Sefa Tunupopo, Ella Williams, Tasman Kaitara, and Stela Dara Resende Albuquerque circle one another, they spiral, they loop, they sing, and their white skirts glide up and down as they twirl a bit like joyous whirling dervishes. They make this look so fun, and isn`t this what so many of us deeply desire, fun, social life and friendship ?

There is a carefree and naive feel to this scene that can`t sustain itself for too long and sure enough lighting designer Isadora Lao presents a solemn scene with long rays of light banded along the stage revealing plantations communicated by the dancers who are now in their work pants, kneeling while meticulously gathering and pressing into the earth. They remain connected as they work with either loud breaths or by song.

There is a particular modern dance style about the choreography with its travelling weaving formations, large scooping arm motions, and considerably less floor work. They`ve worked hard and look as though they`ve reached physical capacity as 2 dancers lie flopped over their friends shoulders.  This notion of workers solidarity continues through synchronised body rhythmic choreography with interludes of the Brazilian martial art/dance capoeira.  A meditative state is created as we discern the satisfying sounds of hundreds of coffee beans being scattered all over the floor, over-layered with harmonies from each performer. A memorable image and moment is Crichton centre stage with his silhouette reflected larger than life on either side of the wall.

Now all those beans get frantically cleaned up and this is where the real party starts.  Picture yourself dressed up shaking a shaker following a Batacuda Bateria down the street at a carnival in Rio de Janeiro, but in fact you are shaking a cup of coffee beans in your seat at Hannah Playhouse, but you get the idea ! This section is so uplifting and fun with pumping music and strobe lights where we see more synchronised street moves that each dancer gives their own little flavour to.

Time slows down as the theatre becomes a busy cafe in the heart of Brazil for about 10 minutes while we watch the performers chat, we chat with our neighbour, have a coffee refill, a mini scone, and remember what it means to be human.  Coffee culture is a set of traditions, a social lubricant, and familiar to people of most cultures unlike anything else. Top up please !

Now we return to Albuquerque`s personal story of immigration. A distraught Dara leaves Williams centre stage heart-broken as we hear Crichton’s beautiful song `goodbye goodbye I`ll miss you so’.  The sounds of waves crash repeatedly as Williams commences a solo that expresses her grief undulating throught her body with intentional hand articulation moving to sweeping arm motions, and light, grounded footwork.

The lights are low, the vibe feels uneasy, it`s maybe hip and cool but it feels disconnected.  It definitely doesn`t feel like Brazil anymore, plus Crichton has transformed into a barista. 
Kaitara drinks espresso after espresso throwing his cups over his shoulder before an impressive caffeine fueled agitated solo where he is nervously stimulated by each beat or synth within the music, which throws off his equilibrium but somehow Kaitara still makes jittery look graceful.  From here it feels doom and gloom as the strobe speeds up and the dancers fall into a dark introverted hip-hop frenzy.  They pick each other up from time to time and put each other back in line.  One thing is clear, these humans look threatened and unhappy.  Nickel`s high pitched and high tension strokes sets the mood for Tunupopo`s solo which he lures us into steadily and then hypnotises us with his distinctive weaving motion, that only he can create with its contrast of speed and featheriness, leaving us wanting more.

Within the choreography we establish that Dara has made deep social connections in her new home as the dancers move as one and use breath together.  Re-connection is found in Aotearoa.  The music has a very familiar Aotearoa homely sound, like that of Fat Freddys or Trinity Roots, with vocals repeating `what`s mine is yours’.  Plentiful hugs are shared before this cast of beautiful people all sit cosily together looking out with gratitude to their audience.  The big finale is ‘Mas Que Nada`, a Brazilian classic from the sixties, and it is pure jubilation and vitality onstage.  An absolute pleasure to be immersed in Company Andança`s heart-felt first work.  There are decades of research that support the importance of social connection as a core dimension of health and wellness.  Andancas work reminds us that both coffee and human connection bring us closer together, it`s everything.

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