KUCHING: She is no longer the mesmerising dancing queen she once was on the dance floor, a time when she was second to none.
But there is still a spark about Chan Tyng Tyng, now 37, and there is no hiding her quest to excel in what she has set out to do.
And her credentials prove she is no flash in the pan unlike many in the business whose passion fizzles out even before it ignites even in this day and age.
To her credit Chan won the Malaysian Top Entrepreneur Award in 2022, the Golden Phoenix Award in 2023 and was listed in the Most Successful People Book in 2019. All because of her passion for dancing.
And to top it all she has groomed over 200 champions.
She readily acknowledges the role her mother had played in getting her going, from a tender age of three, although attending dance classes proved a little too much for the toddler then.
She recalled that her mother, not one to easily give up, waited another three years and enrolled her to dance again.
Baby steps she took to become a Chinese cultural dancer and Chan eventually found herself enjoying dancing — alongside the other activities her mother had demanded of her, such as learning the piano, swimming, drawing, and arithmetic class. At 12, she took up ballet classes as well.
However, as fate would have it she was eventually left with only dancing classes when she turned 15.
Chan’s passion for dancing continued into her young adult years, when she went to Singapore to become a dance teacher for kindergarten and primary school students. She spent a year there at 18 years of age, learning the fundamentals of having a dance studio of her own.
Chan ultimately set a goal for herself as she knew what she wanted to become. And again her mother was there to guide her.
“She told me to never give up on dancing because that’s what I liked doing,” said Chan.
“But when I told my mother about my plans, about the dance studio businesses I saw thriving in Singapore, she asked whether doing likewise could bring food to the table. And although I could learn business from my father, she was sceptical.
“She instead told me that I should get a good degree while continuing my dancing.”
Chan took her mother’s advice, went to a private university here to pursue International Business studies but kept dancing in the meantime and when opportunity arose she laid the groundwork for her foray into business.
When she was given an assignment to market a business, she created a marketing plan for her future dance studio. “And the lecturers gave me a lot of ideas too,” she recalled.
From student to teacher
She went on to establish the Tyng Tyng Dance Academy in 2006, offering classes in ballet, Latin, k-pop, line and ballroom dancing — with the focus being Latin and ballet as both are in demand.
The academy at Jalan Tun Jugah, now houses more than 300 students, with six teachers teaching different genres.
As a dancer though, Chan prefers modern jazz.
“It is a dance routine which combines ballet and hip-hop. I don’t have classes for this as there isn’t a demand here. Furthermore, it is a hard dance move to perform,” she said.
Also, Chan concedes she no longer identifies as a dancer due to the challenges she faces.
There was a time when she could easily spin and kick for an hour but now,with the passage of time long hours on the dance floor are a no-no.
“I can still do big movements but it is painful and the body aches. Back then, I could also teach all day without rest. But now, I must have a an hour’s rest in between classes,” she said, accepting the vagaries of life.
Having said than Chan enjoys working with children and one instance that stands out in her memory is when she took her six and seven-year-olds to Hong Kong for a competition.
“The six-year-old got second place while the older one didn’t even make it to the finals, making her cry. Then the six-year-old girl comforted her by saying, ‘It’s okay, we can come back stronger’.
“I teared up upon listening to her, as that is what I would tell her — that life is filled with ups and downs. We cannot always be on top, but we can always return to let the adjudicator know that we won’t be kept down.”
And today as she teaches her students on the fifth floor of the building in Gala City, she looks to the day when her academy can expand with her aim being to groom more champion dancers.
