Coffee and cigarettes

The trilogy Coffee and Cigarettes deals with the everyday things in life: boredom; social pressure; the desire for adventure; wanting to escape obligations. Alida Dors examines aspects of these in each of the three parts. The theme of the trilogy was inspired by the film of the same title by James Jarmusch[S1] . Alida Dors distilled the feelings of boredom, resistance and loss from this film. She focuses in on the conditioning process and the desire to escape from obligations.

Coffee and Cigarettes #2
Following the first part, which featured dance students from Codarts and examined alienation, boredom and the search for identity, in Coffee and Cigarettes #2 Alida zooms in on ‘today’s woman’. Who conditions women – and who says these imposed expectations are achievable? On stage, three strong women – three personalities who (no coincidence) share a background in hip-hop.

Coffee and Cigarettes #3
Coffee and Cigarettes #3 premiered at the Dutch Dance Festival 2013. In this piece, Alida Dors investigates our current, everyday lives: boredom, social pressure, the desire for adventure, the wish to escape from obligations. Through the self-assured language of hip-hop, three women expose the complexities of being a woman today. Accompanied by cellist Mascha van Nieuwkerk, they resist explosively – and reflect thoughtfully. A unique listening experience is created by the way this performance is set up in the space, with the audience in the centre, gathered in a triangle around the cellist. Because of the audience’s unparalleled proximity to the musician, they are carried along, part of her musical sensations, which are further heightened by the choreography taking place around the triangle. The new perspectives opened up by Alida Dors and Diego Soifer in this production subtly break through the detached Western culture of listening in, allowing the dance to be experienced from a different perspective.