Louis van Amstel (born June 23, 1972, inAmsterdam) is a Dutchballroom dance champion,^[1] professional dancer, andchoreographer who appears on the Americanreality television seriesDancing with the Stars.^[2]

Louis van Amstel was born in Amsterdam; his grandparents were competitive ballroom dancers. He began dancing at 10 and entered competitions at 15. He stopped attending school at 16 to pursue dancing full-time.^[3]

Van Amstel competed professionally with Julie Fryer. They were coached by Ruud Vermeij. In 1990, Van Amstel and Fryer became Dutch Latin Champions and 10 Dance Champions. They also made the final in the 'under 21' category in Blackpool. During the same year, they received a bronze medal at the German Open, at the World Latin and at the European 10 Dance. In the Worlds 10 Dance Championship, Van Amstel and Fryer got fourth place.

In 1991, Van Amstel and Fryer won the national championships for the second time, and got fourth place in all major championships. A year later, Van Amstel decided that he wanted to retire from competing for a while and ended his partnership with Fryer for the first time. Three years later, in 1994, the partnership was re-established, and Van Amstel and Fryer went on to win three world Latin Dance championship gold medals in 1994, 1995 and 1996.

In 1997, Van Amstel retired from competitive ballroom dancing, moved to New York City, and became an American citizen in July 1999.^[4] He returned to competitive dancing with partnerKarina Smirnoff; they won the United States national championship in 2000.

Van Amstel was cast forseason one ofDancing with the Stars in early 2005. He was partnered withTrista Sutter, but they were the first to be eliminated from the competition. In the show'ssecond season, he was partnered with hostessLisa Rinna, with whom he reached fourth place.

Van Amstel returned inseason three and was partnered withHigh School Musical starMonique Coleman. During the eighth week of the competition, they received two 10s for theirCha-Cha-Cha marking Van Amstel's only 10s ofDancing with the Stars for an individual dance for many seasons to come. They made it to the semi-finals, but were eliminated, resulting in a fourth-place finish. He did not participate in thefourth season due to all the females being taller than him, but he nonetheless maintained a role as a performer and choreographer throughout the season andseason five.^[3]

He returned inseason six and was partnered with actress, businesswoman, and wife ofElvis Presley,Priscilla Presley. The couple made it to the fifth week, but were eliminated, resulting in an eighth-place finish.

He returned inseason nine and was partnered with reality TV star and singerKelly Osbourne. The couple made it to the finale where they finished in third place, marking Van Amstel's first and only time to make it to the finals to date. Inseason ten ofDancing with the Stars, Van Amstel was partnered withReno 911! starNiecy Nash. The couple made it to the eighth week, but were eliminated, resulting in a fifth-place finish.

Forseason eleven ofDancing with the Stars, Van Amstel was partnered with actress and comedianMargaret Cho. The couple made it to the third week, but were eliminated, resulting in a tenth-place finish. Van Amstel appeared in Cho's comedy music albumCho Dependent as her therapist. In July 2011, he appeared alongside Cho as himself in thefourth episode of thethird season ofDrop Dead Diva.

For the show'stwelfth season, Van Amstel was partnered with playboy model and reality starKendra Wilkinson. During the fifth week in the competition, they danced the 1000th competitive dance. The couple made it to the seventh week, but were eliminated, resulting in a sixth-place finish. Wilkinson later published her book,Being Kendra, in which she said she and van Amstel clashed constantly and that he called her dyslexic and learning disabled. Van Amstel denied the comments, calling her book "twisted". Nevertheless, Van Amstel made two appearances on Wilkinson's reality showsKendra andKendra on Top, though Wilkinson described their encounters as "awkward".

Van Amstel returned forseason 15 ofDancing with the Stars, the All Stars season, and was partnered with former contestant,Sabrina Bryan. In the sixth week of the competition, the pair scored the first perfect 30 of the season. This was also Van Amstel's first perfect score ever after nine seasons onDancing with the Stars. The couple made it to the sixth week, but were eliminated, despite being at the top of the leaderboard, resulting in an eighth-place finish. This was also the same week that Bryan was shockingly eliminated in her original season. In Week 8, Van Amstel was chosen byKelly Monaco and her partnerVal Chmerkovskiy to be their partner in their trio dance.

Van Amstel was not asked back forseason 16 ofDancing with the Stars.^[5]

On September 2, 2015, he was announced as a pro forseason 21 after a 5-season hiatus. He was paired with celebrity chef,Paula Deen.^[6] They were eliminated on week 6 of competition and finished in 9th place.

Van Amstel returned to the show forseason 31. He was partnered with actressCheryl Ladd.^[7]

During his time off fromDancing with the Stars, Van Amstel set up a not-for-profit dance company called "Visionworx Dance Theater," which combines all four major dance forms. He also choreographed and appeared on numerous TV shows such asThe Suite Life of Zack & Cody,Hannah Montana, andAll My Children.^[3]

After season six ofDancing with the Stars, Van Amstel was asked to create and choreograph a show calledBallroom with a Twist, which featured a rotating cast of dancers. The show also featured formerAmerican Idol contestants includingDavid Hernandez andCarly Smithson.Ballroom With a Twist toured in theaters around the country. Van Amstel is no longer associated with the show.

He choreographed seven dances on season 5 ofSo You Think You Can Dance. Three of the seven dances made it to the finale and were mentioned as the judges' favorite picks at the Kodak theater in Hollywood. He continued choreographing in seasons 6, 7, and 8.^{[citation needed]}

Van Amstel runs a dance fitness program, LaBlast. LaBlast DVDs were released in early 2012. During the summer of that year, Van Amstel started a fitness clothing line, branded LVA.

In fall 2014, Van Amstel was seen as a judge on the Dutch showCelebrity Pole Dancing, a show where Dutch celebrities are taught how to pole dance and perform.

Van Amstel is openlygay. However, he does not explicitly use the word "gay" because he does not want to bestigmatized.^[4] On January 8, 2017, Van Amstel married his long-time boyfriend Joshua Lancaster inSundance, Utah.^[8] On October 16, 2023, van Amstel announced on Instagram that the couple had divorced. They have two adopted sons, Daniel and Jonathan.

In November 2019, Van Amstel made headlines after he revealed that a substitute teacher shamed his son for having two gay dads and subjected his fifth-grade class to a 10-minute anti-gay lecture. The school promptly fired the teacher.^[9]

^* Due toLen Goodman's absence in week 2, the 7 was awarded by stand-in guest judgeBaz Luhrmann.

^* The additional scores of 7 and 8 were awarded by guest judgeDonnie Burns.

^* The additional score of 8.5 was awarded by guest judgePaula Abdul.

¹ Score given by guest judgeAlfonso Ribeiro.

² This week only, for "Partner Switch-Up" week, Deen performed withMark Ballas instead of Louis van Amstel. Louis performed withTamar Braxton.^[10]

³ Score given by guest judgeMaksim Chmerkovskiy.

⁴ Score given by guest judgeOlivia Newton-John.

• Louis van Amstel atIMDb
• LouisLetsDance.com
• LaBlastfitness.comArchived 2021-08-05 at theWayback Machine

• 1972 births
• Living people
• American ballroom dancers
• Dutch ballroom dancers
• 20th-century American dancers
• Dutch male dancers
• Dutch dancers
• Dutch emigrants to the United States
• LGBTQ choreographers
• Dutch LGBTQ dancers
• Dutch gay entertainers
• Entertainers from Amsterdam
• So You Think You Can Dance choreographers
• Participants in American reality television series
• Ballroom dancers
• Gay dancers
• American male dancers

• Webarchive template wayback links
• Articles with short description
• Short description is different from Wikidata
• Articles with hCards
• All articles with unsourced statements
• Articles with unsourced statements from December 2011