About Dance Insanity
A World Where Everyone Dances
Dance is a miracle drug. It helps us talk to and through our bodies, to connect with ourselves inside and out, and to connect with others. It helps us move through life more confidently, to conduct our bodies daily with more grace, and respect. It energizes our bodies and mind so that we can then bring more to all other parts of our lives and people around us.
Together, we have been teaching and entertaining for more than 30 years.
With all of that experience, we’ve created Dance Insanity using our unique blend of teaching techniques that focuses on not just figures and steps, but also conditioning and strengthening. To make the body and mind both say “YES” at the same time!
Passion is a beautiful thing. Sometimes, it takes being a little “crazy” about something, to delve fully in. At Dance Insanity, we invite you to be crazy about dancing and bring the passion!
LiWen Ang
Founder of Dance Insanity
My first “gig” was playing “Sleeping Beauty” in a school play at age 6. I suppose that kickstarted my creative career! I choreographed my first dance at age 11 to Whitney Houston’s “One Moment In Time” because I had a beautiful dress and needed an occasion to wear it! So, I forced my best friends to learn and perform my piece at the school’s End of the Year Talent show. No training.. just lots of imagination!
After that, I focused on my academics while dappling in Chinese and modern dance due to various school activities. When I was 18, I saw a latin ballroom competition on TV and was immediately fascinated. But I couldn’t imagine myself dancing so “sexy and raunchy”.. and thought – nah, that’s not for me! Finally, in my last semester of college at UC Berkeley (while doing my Architecture degree), I took a ballroom dance class and fell in love!
After graduating, I worked as an Architect specializing in high end commercial and School Design. Meanwhile, I started to train in ballroom dancing more seriously, competing in pro-am for a couple of years. I then began performing and teaching with Tytus. I even went on a Dance Reality TV Show, “Dirty Dancing – Living the Dream”, that aired on the WE network – and came in 1st runner-up.
Having taught students as young as 4 to 80, I found that Age is seldom the issue. It’s always the mentality. Teaching became just as much about changing mental habits as it is about changing physical habits. So, I had to challenge myself to teach and grow in new ways which helped my students to improve and gain confidence. I truly believe everyone has the ability to be good at dancing if they get the right structure and mentality.
Tytus Bergstrom
Co-Founder
The last I wanted to do when I was growing up was dance. But by the time I met LiWen, I had already won a number of USA National Dance Titles and represented the USA in the world dance championship twice. Having trained many national and world champions in Salsa, Swing and Latin styles, I know first hand that for those who want to be truly brilliant, there is no substitute for hard work and passion.
It’s easy for those who see me today to say “oh he’s so talented!”. However, I certainly didn’t start out that way. In fact, I was deemed as not being talented when I first started because I didn’t really want to dance. My parents owned a dance studio and I was sort of put into the “dancing” spot. However, everything changed when I decided that dancing would help me get a date with this super sexy girl I was working with. So I put my whole mind, body and soul into the dancing. After that, there was no stopping me. Therefore, I believe that talent is over-rated. And what is perceived as talent is often built through persistence, dedication and hard work. Sometimes, the talented ones are the ones who don’t go anywhere because they get by with “talent’ and don’t do the work.
I teach and show my students how to “go for it” by example. I gained and lost 40 pounds twice in my life – first when I was 15 (due to overindulgence in twinkies) and the second time (for playing a role in my “Reality TV Movie” film). That takes discipline, determination and hard work. So, I teach my students to push the body to its edge so that you can grow stronger and be better than you think you can be. Because life is all about energy and the more you have it, the better a life you can have.
But it’s also about having fun. Anything that isn’t fun and enjoyable, will not get results in the long run. That’s why I always use storytelling and entertaining methods in my teaching.
Our Story
A Dance and Love journey
We are like yin and yang. Tytus is the left brain and LiWen has both sides of the brain intact. 😉 Where LiWen grew up in a traditional Chinese family, with structure, emphasis on good grades, Tytus grew up with a very non-traditional upbringing where he was allowed to create, imagine and be an artist. We love each other because we are so different and respect each other for our unique abilities and gifts.
What we have in common, is to live a life that makes a difference. To be impactful in what we do and add value where we do. We are into spirituality, self-improvement, and growing younger as we age! Besides loving to dance, we love to work out, eat well, watch movies and make movies!
We believe that having fun can change behaviors and create habits of excellence. Here at Dance Insanity, you can see a fusion of 2 passions: Dance + Film. You can see what we are up to on our filmmaking website: www.tytusentertainment.com
Tytus’ fantasy short dance film, Dancing Day has gotten 13 awards in the US/ International film festival circuit. He also premiered a comedic dance feature film, Reality TV Movie in 2014 that was well-received.