Sometimes Frans Poelstra and Robert Steijn commit adultery, that means they do also other collaborations, without the other even knowing it. They have this agreement. That it is okay to work with other people sometimes….

Already for a long time, Robert is interested in meeting different people in an artistic context, they seem to be all good friends, and sometimes it looks a natural way to learn more about each other by making a work together. Some works will be big, others very small, and studiolike. He likes to think that it all will be financed in a proper timing, on the right place.

Robert’s activities the coming years, outside united sorry.

In New York Robert will continue his collaboration with Maria Hasabi to make a duet together. They are desperately looking for money, residencies, venues, and so on. It will be a duet, with a lot of talking, showing off their dark erotic night side – that’s what robert thinks.

In Brussels, at the moment, Robert advises a work of Peter Ampe, who he considers as a very young soulbrother, He asked Pieter to get in dialogue with him and invited Peter for the Marie Therese event, July 2008.

at the moment Pieter ( on top) made a performance with Gui, it looks like an exercise in friendship between men, very touching, very elegant, and sometimes very funny, it is their first thing together

In Berlin, Robert will work with his long time friend Eric Frymark – yes, he is the person who made this website – to direct a theatre piece about old people at Theater der Junge Welt in Leipzig. (premiere autumn 2008)

In Amsterdam he prepares a theatre-event/installation work, with the dancers Michael Schumacher and Liat Waysbort and the video-artist Roberta Marques. (april 2008) about a night without any electricity.

In the Hague lives Kyungsun Baek, and they talk already for a long time about a duet, in which he plays the role of president bush promoting the war and Kuyngsun is dancing around him as the death. This duet will be a follow up of their initial research in Amsterdam. He looks for a residency for this small project. He also wants to involve the visual artist Lisa May Post, who made a beautiful world for a duet he made before with Milli Bitterli.

In France, Robert will be a dancer in the new group piece of Latifa Labissi, the premiere will be also in October 2008.

In Vienna, he will research with the choreographer Georg Blaschke a follow up of their first public artist meeting in 2006.

At home you get the best ideas. here robert and georg are investigating how it would be to wear black panties, the camera didn’t capture them unfortunately…

Outside activities of Robert and Frans still on the repertory:

Tower of Babel

a piece ritual for multi cultural cities made by Robert Steijn and Lidy Six in 2002. The ritual “shows that it’s impossible to think in separation: we are all people with dreams, with bed-time stories, and although we can not understand each others language, in this intimate state between sleeping and being awake we can meet each other beyond words.” The ritual is performed by 25 local storytellers, who speak different languages, DJ Cassie6 and VJ Roberta Marques. Premiere: may 2002, Melkweg, Amsterdam.

Not the real thing

a theatreperformance as a picnic, with three performers who think theatre, instead of perfoming it. wit a lot of visionary manifesto’s and deconstructive thinking. Written and performed by Anneke Bonnema, Hans Petter Dahl, and Robert Steijn. premiere: oct.2005 kaaitheaterstudio’s Brussel.

How to become God in one hour and twelve minutes

a theatre performance made by Robert Steijn, Violetta Czok, Chris Lopatta, and Bettina Frank, at Theater der junge Welt in Leipzig. A piece about the act of creation, and a director who leaves his actors alone, after having dropped the title. premiere: september 2006 Leipzig. see www.theaterderjungenweltleipzig.de

beieinander

Together with Andrea Bold, a choreographer who lives in Vienna, Frans worked on a project for babies… They decided to invite babies, their parent(s) and old people. Somehow the idea of to make art only for babies was too decadent for them. What interests them is the meeting of the generations, maybe because Frans has a 18 month old child and his parents are in an old peoples home. Can we meet a baby? An old person? Can we drop our fixed ideas of understanding of each other. Maybe we can learn something there… Premiere Tanzquartier, Vienna 2006

keeping still

is a production of Rosas/ a solo of anne teresa de keersmaeker in an installation of Ann Veronica Janssens, with partner ( robert). A play with shifting spaces, shifitng atmospheres. Premiere: Kunstenfestival/ Brussels/ june 2007