Jan Martens (1984, Belgium) studied at the Fontys Dance Academy in Tilburg and graduated in 2006 from the dance department of the Artesis Royal Conservatoire of Antwerp. Since 2010 he has been making his own choreographic work, which, over the years, has been performed with increasing regularity before a national and international audience. The work of Martens is nurtured by the belief that each body can communicate, that each body has something to say. That direct communication expresses itself in transparent forms. In each new work he tries to redraw the relation between public and performer. He is associated artist with deSingel Antwerp, La Comédie scène nationale de Clermont-Ferrand, Opera Ballet Vlaanderen, Maison de la danse Lyon and Lyon Dance Biennale. In 2014, Jan Martens founded the choreographic platform GRIP with business director Klaartje Oerlemans in Antwerp / Rotterdam.