The Honorable 2026 Jury 

Artistic Director Henny Jurriëns Studio Evan, the artistic director of the Henny Jurriëns Studio in Amsterdam is a native of Los Angeles, California, Evan received his education from The Juilliard School, in New York City. He has worked with various companies including Thang Dao Dance Company (USA), Tanzcompagnie Konzert Theater Bern (CH), National Dance Company Wales (UK), Grand Théâtre de Genève (CH) and Cie Opinion Public (BE) to name a few. Evan has performed works by Pina Bausch, Ohad Naharin, Marcos Morau, Roy Assaf, Twyla Tharp, and Martha Graham, amongst others. He has danced across the United States, Europe, Asia, as well as the Middle East. Some of his achievements include the Martha Hill Prize and the YoungArts Scholarship, presented by the National Foundation of Advancements in the Arts.

Teacher at the Royal Conservatoire, Den Haag Marjolein studied at the Nationale Ballet Academy Amsterdam. Continued her career in Israel. She danced with the Israel Ballet in Tel Aviv, Manhattan Ballet in New York. She danced in several projects in the Netherlands and had her own studio in The Hague. She was head of the dance department at Katzir Highschool, and a regular guest teacher at Kamea Dance Company and the Maslool-Professional Dance Program TLV.She is currently Ballet and Progressing Ballet Technique teacher at Royal Conservatoire Dance.

Movement Coach at ArtEZ Dance Artist & Coordinator of the Mosa Ballet School Contemporary Program Ime Essien-Hassel is the Contemporary Program Coordinator at Mosa Balllet School in Belgium and a regular teacher/coach at ArtEZ Dance Artist program. She was trained as a stage dancer and dance teacher at the École Française de Ballet (Bonn) and the New City Dance School (Stuttgart). She worked as a dancer and singer in various musicals, rock operas and in modern musical theater in Germany. After her internship with the contemporary dance company Conny Janssen Danst in Rotterdam (NL) in 1992, Ime worked for Charleroi Danse/ Plan K in Belgium and with the Tanzcompagnie Gießen in Germany. There she worked first as a dancer, then as a rehearsal director and choreographic assistant in. This was followed by a 7-year engagement as artistic rehearsal director (RD) with NorrDans in Härnösand (SE), and subsequently as guest RD with the Staatstheater Bielefeld (D), the Theater St. Gallen, as RD & ensemble coach with Skånes Dansteater in Malmö (SE) and assisting Jasper van Luijk (NL) in creation for the ArtEZ Bachelor of Dance in Arnhem (NL). Since 2000 and 2007 Ime Essien-Hassel has been studying and working with the essential-communication approach Process Inquiry®, the movement inquiry through Dansergia®, and as a Change Catalyst®. This work and more forms the methodological basis for I.M.E. InnerMovementEvolution, the holistic approach for personal authentic performance quality and physicality that she teaches. Since 2004 Ime Essien-Hassel taught and worked as a dance teacher and movement coach in contemporary dance companies, colleges of dance and open dance studios internationally – in Scandinavia, the Netherlands, Italy, Switzerland & Tanzania, and was part of the former Cedar Lake Contemporary Ballet (US) Germany tour 2010. I.M.E. InnerMovementEvolution is embedded in the curriculum of the ArtEZ Bachelor of Dance in Arnhem/The Netherlands since 2005, with the main courses “Process Inquiry® in Dance”, Essence Work, Physical Musicality and Inner Architecture. Besides, it develops further to support personal development and healing through energy-movement understanding also for non-professional dancers and every-body. Ime Essien-Hassel is a certified ContaKids Teacher.

Director of Dutch Ukraïnian Dance Centre, Co-founder of DDDDD Rinus Sprong began his career in 1981 as a dancer with the Netherlands Dance Theatre under the direction of Jirí Kylián. He was later contracted by, among others, Intro Dans, Scapino Ballet, Théâtre Chorégraphique de Rennes (FR), and worked as a guest dancer with various groups and productions in the USA, Israel, and the Netherlands. In addition, he has had a career in cabaret, musical, and theater. He has choreographed for, among others, the Cadance Festival, Springdance, the world tour of DJ Armin van Buuren, and the production ‘Nurejev’ with Jan Kooijman. As a teacher and mentor, he taught for ten years at Co-Darts, Rotterdam, and also at a wide range of schools including ArtEZ, Fontys, Lucia Marthas, and various courses. Additionally, he has taught dance in Italy and was invited to provide coaching and leadership for the Candidates Program for General Executive Positions by the Leeuwendaal Institute. Together with Thom Stuart, he founded the groundbreaking dance company The Dutch Don’t Dance Division. For their contribution to dance in the Netherlands, they received the Prize of Merit from Dansers Fonds ’79 and the Culturalis Prize from the Municipality of The Hague. On television, he has appeared in many dance programs, including ‘So You Think You Can Dance’, ‘Holland’s Got Talent’, and in 2024, he will appear in a new dance program, ‘Project Dance’, for NPO. Rinus Sprong also served as artistic director of the United Ukrainian Ballet (UUB) alongside prima ballerina Igone de Jongh, a company of 65 dancers who are refugees escaping the war. In this role, he was featured in the CNN program ‘Dancers in Defiance’ in an interview with Christiane Amanpour. Dans BalleRinus Dans is a podcast he produces through his company 7SPRONG, in which he talks with people from the worlds of ballet, theater, and music. For more information, visit www.7sprong.com