Meet our Directors

Tess Sinke

Artistic Director & Resident Choreographer

Tess Sinke grew up training at the Grand Rapids Ballet and later attended Mercyhurst University, where she graduated with a BA in Dance Choreography and Religious Studies. Tess founded Deos Contemporary Ballet in 2018 and has led the company through its exponential growth over the last six years. She has helped grow the company from a summer-only performance company to year-round operations, with six salaried professional dancers in residence. She has created over 300 hours of choreography for Deos Ballet as well as engaged guest choreographers from around the U.S. to set original work on the company. Tess served as the Resident Choreographer and head pre-professional instructor at Turning Pointe School of Dance for seven years before joining Michigan Ballet Academy as faculty and the Recreation Division Coordinator.  

When Tess isn’t working, she can be found at home spending quality time with her husband, two young kids, and their two dogs. 

Andrew Hoekstra

Executive Director

Andrew is definitely not a dancer unless you count his few weeks of adult ballet class! He is an engineer by trade and a regional expert in business model innovation. He began his career at Bosch developing autonomous vehicles, reporting technology trends to the C-suite, and consulting with internal startups. Today, he works as an independent consultant in artificial intelligence and machine learning. In his free time, he enjoys training service dogs for Paws With A Cause, trying new fermented foods and drinks, and staying in shape through competitive sports.