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 transcends conventional understanding. Moving through choreography, performance, installation, and fashion-informed dramaturgy, these are the materials they think with, forming a single dramatic organism.
Lunatics and Poets are also available for movement direction for fashion, film, plays, and opera. If you’re intrigued and seeking more details, we welcome you to reach out.
Lunatics and Poets is based in Amsterdam, founded by Anna Jacobs and Hanna van der Meer.
Anna and Hanna trained at the Rambert School of Ballet and Contemporary Dance in London, following studies at the National Ballet Academy Amsterdam and ArtEZ Arnhem, respectively. Both went on to complete Master’s degrees in Fashion at ArtEZ and Artemis Amsterdam. Their duet I am a poem, there is no way out won the Club Guy & Roni Production Award at RIDCC, the Golden Butterfly Award at DanceFest, and First Prize at Festival 10Sentidos (Valencia). Their two most recent theatre works include Village Storm and Postcards from a Better Place, both of which toured over twenty theatres in the Netherlands, with the latter premiering internationally at Festival Prisma (Panama City). Their triptych of immersive installations consists of Alone with Everybody for M. Museum, and Land of No Curtains for Festival d’Avignon (2022), which was also shown at Cinedans and at South of No North (their own event, in collaboration with Dansmakers Amsterdam). During the pandemic, they created The People Look Like Flowers at Last, first as a film and later as a live piece, which was selected for Tanzplattform Bern of the Bern Ballett (CH). In 2021, they developed the site-specific work Hurry Slowly, but Hurry as part of Oerol Festival and Over ‘t IJ festival. Their short film The Long Goodbye premiered at Fashion Film Festival Milano (2021) and has screened at Cinedans and the Aesthetica Film Festival (UK). Recently, they created a new duet commissioned by FOAM museum, Amsterdam.
Lunatics and Poets occupy a hybrid theatrical space. They think through the body and through materials, together forming one dramatic organism. Their work embodies lived, complex experiences that relate to the world and to life in a darkly tender way. It can be read as visual poetry, leaving room for association, silence, and nuance.
Next season, their newest work will be expanded and will tour the Netherlands as part of Danceclick. A new research phase will also begin for the 2026/2027 season, which will take place at ICK.