Louis van Amstel

Louis van Amstel is a professional dancer, Latin American style. Van Amstel was born in The Netherlands. In 2000, he retired from competing, but he regularly appears in exhibition performances. Van Amstel lives in New York City, and has produced dance shows on Broadway at City Center (Latin Fusion) and in Salt Lake City (Latin Revolution). Van Amstel directed, choreographed and performed in Latin Fusion through his company VanDance, LLC, founded in 2000. Van Amstel started to dance at a very early age, and gained a solid background in ballet, tap dancing and jazz. After high school, he attended the University of the Arts in the Dutch capital Amsterdam. Unlike many dancers, Van Amstel has a strong psychological approach to teaching. This approach was based on the theory described in the book Dance To Your Maximum by Maximiliaan Winkelhuis, a must-read for competitive dancers. In 1989, Sammy Stopford and Peter Townsend, both excellent competitors, thought that Julie Fryer from Manchest