Lunatics
and Poets



Choreographic Art Studio
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Lunatics
and Poets


Choreographic Art Studio
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performance       body                   matter  

UPCOMING premiere + NL tour of ‘Village Storm’ 
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Enter the world of Lunatics and Poets, otherwise known as - and responding to - Anna and Hanna. The complexity of figuring out who's who deepens as Hanna's name is, in fact, also Anna, and Anna would have nearly been called Hanna. The studio embodies a surreal fusion of lunacy and poetry. The work unravels grand themes and explores the depths of the human condition, crafting theatrical images and choreographing a delicate tapestry that transcend conventional understanding. Lunatics and Poets is based in Amsterdam, founded by Anna Jacobs and Hanna van der Meer. They operate at the intersection of choreography, performance, and fashion, creating dynamic experiences for theater, installations, and film.
Lunatics and Poets are also open to exploring new horizons in the realm of movement direction for fashion and various artistic collaborations. If you're intrigued and seeking more details, we welcome you to reach out. 

"We seamlessly intertwine movement, dress, materiality, and the body, viewing them as naturally connected entities deeply rooted in society. These elements evoke sensory associations tied to emotions and memories, serving as essential expressions of our identities and beliefs. Our creative exploration delves into the unspoken emotional layers beneath society's surface, revealing personal and societal stories embedded in material and body. Through our work, we aim to transport viewers into a simultaneously recognizable and alienating world, uncovering suppressed vulnerabilities in our daily lives. Our choreography revolves around theatrical images that explore themes like fear, alienation, the everyday, identity, love, transience, and human incompetence. Set in imaginary environments, our visually worlds carry a lightness that veils deeper, sometimes darker, universal truths."

a new piece premiering 15th of February and touring through the Netherlands

Village Storm



Worldpremiere 15 Feb 2025,
NL tour until 3 May 2025
 
Duration: +/- 30 min.
 
Cast: Tatiana Matveeva, William English + dancers Poetic Disasters Club: Jeanne Hensinger, Ray Lemmens, Patrick Wiel, Emma Zeimen, Oier Abrego

Credits: Lunatics and Poets (concept, set, choreography in collaboration with the dancers), Anouk van Kampen-Wielingen (costume), Brendan Faegre (music), Samon Presland (light), Ascon de Nijs (set advice), Anaida Melivia (set intern), Igor Podsiadly, Rosie Reith (studio assistance), Nick Dunsbergen, Michiel Schnelle (technique), Jesse Korte, Gerard Paulissen (production), Joelie Stork, Michèl Nijdam(marketing/PR), Tania Ballve, Helga Richter (costume department)
Text: Louise Glück (A Village Life) spoken by Rosie Reith and William English
Photo’s projection: Tatiana Matveeva, Anna Jacobs, Hanna van der Meer 

“’Village Storm’ is part of our triptych about ‘desire’. Inspired by Louise Glück’s poetry bundle ‘A Village Life’ and René Girard’s anthropological theories, we explored the tension between human individuality and animalistic instincts. The piece unfolds in a small community close to nature. What you see evolve are private tender moments of human relationships, as a tango, against the background of the powerful, confrontational presence of natural disasters. Like a storm gathering in the distance”
 


Images: Lunatics and Poets
a piece for 19 dancers

I wanted the whole world or nothing



Worldpremiere April 2025, London

Commisioned by Rambert School of Ballet and Contemporary Dance

Cast: the final year students of Rambert School

Part of our tryptich on ‘desire’. More info coming soon.  


Images: Michael Peter Johnson
an installation in a growing city

Alone with Everybody



January-June 2023

Commisioned by M. Museum

Credits: Lunatics and Poets (installation and direction), Tymon Bijlhout (sound), Samon Presland (light), Eori Wakakuwa (cinematography),Olympia Kotopoulos (performer opening), Tatiana Spiewak, Lin van Kaam, Terencio Douw (performers film)
Alone with Everybody is a multi-disciplinary installation that blends objects, film, and sound to explore contemporary themes like relationships, identity, community, gender, and materialism. Miniature, uninhabited households invite observers to closely examine domestic items as personal extensions, unveiling emotional imprints and memories. The soundscape seamlessly connects public and private spheres, while short films depict surreal scenes of a stranger's daily life at home.

Suspended by slender threads, these floating microcosms visually symbolize life's intricate balance. Observing familiar elements on a small scale imparts logic to larger complexities and encourages the reinvention of narratives. Alone with Everybody urges us to transcend the ordinary, offering a profound exploration of the human experience through introspection and imagination.


Images: Erwin Budding 
a filmic work for theatre

Postcards from a better place



Worldpremiere 17 November 2022
Tour through NL and international premiere Prisma Festival Panama City 2023

Commisioned and (co)produced  by Nite

Cast: Lin van Kaam, Tatiana Spiewak, William English, Tatiana Matveeva, Ada Daniele
Credits: Lunatics and Poets (concept, direction, choreography in collaboration with the dancers)
Merit Vessies (dramaturgy) Rik van den Heuvel (sound) Samon Presland (light) Ascon de Nijs (set) Samir Duratovic (costume) Lea Maria Kahl (atelier)
In Postcards from a better place, Lunatics and Poets illuminate the dark side of human nature. From an infantile game to overt violence, it is the inner darkness that confronts us with irreversible acts, shame, and guilt. This performance is a poetic portrait of the shadow side that, at the same time, makes us human.
The set refers to rooms in which emotionally charged moments occur in a filmic way, and in which the inner and outer worlds begin to overlap. The audience is invited to follow their own storyline within the many scenes that unfold in ‘the house’ and simultaneously take place in the emotive outside world at the very front of the stage.  Lightness and darkness can’t exist without each other: darkness does not exist without light, and vice versa. Where do dark thoughts and emotions come from, and under what circumstances do they surface?


Images: Jésula Toussaint Visser
sculptural, tactile, immersive - theatrical, filmic, technological

The land of no curtains


Worldpremiere at Festival d’Avignon, 9-17 July 2022
and at Cinedans Fest A’dam

(co)produced by Dark Euphoria

Credits: Lunatics and Poets (concept, creative direction, embroidery), Jan Jacobs (visual art - houses), Eori Wakakuwa (cinematography), Elgar Weijtmans (technology), Tymon Bijlhout (sound), Samon Presland (light), Olympia Kotopoulos (live performer), Hanna van der Meer, Arno Verbruggen, Michael Johnson (performers film)
Special thanks: Arja Spronken (colouring houses), Urbainstudio (film), Performance Technology Lab (research), Nienke Rooijakkers (writing), Martin Weijtmans (engineering), Yoeri Treffers (house support), the team of Le Grenier à sel under the direction of Véronique Baton
Funding partners: European Commission - Creative Europe, Amsterdam Fund for the Arts, 
Dutch Ambassy France, La Manufacture
The Land of No Curtains emerges as an exploration, transcending the boundaries of mere installation. Blending performance, material artistry and cinematic expression to capture a society's longings, desires, and deepest fears. The Land of No Curtains is a captivating microcosm in which films on holographic screens and delicate embroidered textiles reflect the essence of home—its objects, memories, and daily rhythms. It unravels the threads of significance woven through the mundane, allowing us to give logic to bigger things. This reflection highlights the duality inherent in the concept of a house, simultaneously protective yet vulnerable. Like a delicate dance between the light and darkness of life, and its fragile beauty.


Images: Elgar Weijtmans, Celine Delatte 
a transformative piece, like moving paintings

The people look like flowers at last



A theatre film as well as a live work. Made for the digital Nite Hotel in 2021 on the Poetic Disasters Club and is a co-production with Club Guy & Roni and Noord Nederlands Toneel.

Shown live at Tanzplattform Bern Ballet, Switzerland and at Theater Rotterdam as part of RIDCC Brings Back.

Duration: 30 min.

Cast: William English, Jésula Toussaint Visser/Aya Mitsaki, Rosie Reith, Tatiana Matveeva/Zaneta Kesik, Tatiana Spiewak/Simone Peters, Terencio Douw/Felix Feestra/Sam Corver
Credits: Lunatics and Poets (concept, choreography), Samon Presland (light), Tymon Bijlhout (sound) Lunatics and Poets (costume, set)
Title & Text: Charles Bukowski, E.E. Cummings

Perhaps the life we've known thus far is but a fraction of true existence. What lies beyond death remains a mystery—could there be a transitional realm, unfolding in myriad narratives?

This work contemplates the post-death experience. It envisions a transit zone where the memories of diverse individuals unfold through transformative sequences. It commences with an otherworldly forest, culminating in the portrayal of an isolated flower. A composition marked by serenity and tranquility, it is a visually immersive work filled with vulnerability and poetic imagery. The People look like flowers at last becomes a performance that resists defining The End. It borrows its title from Charles Bukowski, resonating with his insight that one must 'die a few times before you can really live'—or perhaps, we sleep forever and die only for a little while.


Images: Jésula Toussaint Visser