On the 14th of NovemberEsther Protzman received the Special Award of the Dutch Balletgala of the Dancersfund '79.
Esther Protzman received her ballet training at the Royal Conservatoire and at the Royal Ballet School of Antwerp, Belgium. Her dance career has a span of nearly 20 years, first at the Royal Ballet of Flanders, Antwerp, and later as a soloist with the National Ballet, Amsterdam. She danced many leading roles in the Balanchine repertoire and choreography of (among others) Rudi van Dantzig, Hans van Manen, and Toer van Schayk. Esther Protzman has been a teacher at the Royal Conservatoire in The Hague since 2001.

The jury, consisting of Han Ebbelaar, Alexandra Radius, Ine Rietstap, Marian Sarstädt, and Karin Schnabel found that Esther deserved the special prize because of 'the expertise, style, and understanding with which she familiarizes the young dance students to the demanding classical ballet technique and for the adaptions of famous ballets that she makes for the young dance talents.'

This Special Prize was awarded in the presence of Princess Beatrix. The yearly dance prizes are the oldest in the Netherlands. Radius and Ebbelaar created Dancersfund '79 in 1979 on the occasion of their 20-year anniversary.