Jaap van Manen (the Netherlands, 1954) is a theologian, dance teacher and life coach.

He has worked with children, adults and eldery people in different settings for more than 20 years.  At “Stichting de Santenkraam - a workshop for biblical spirituality and creativity”, he combined theology and dance and worked as a choreographer, dancer, dance teacher and member of staff. As a  creative dance teacher he was attached to the Theatre School of Amsterdam; organised courses in the Netherlands and France and set up workshops for creative dance teachers. In 1998 he established his own company Mobile and together with a colleague set up a training school for becoming a creative dance teacher.  Since 2003 he has also been  working as life coaching (certified via ResultsLifeCoaching). In 2006 he set up a new training course to enable coaches and (dance) teachers to become dance coaches.