Andy Callender

Andy began to dance at the age of 6 in Panama, where he was introduced to the Latin dances such as Salsa, Merengue, Rumba, and more. This introduction of dances inspired the Latin flavor upon him. Later, after moving to the United States in 1996 at the age of 11, Andy expanded his dance resume by adding Jazz, Tap, Ballet, Modern, and Hip-Hop.  As a teenager, Andy performed on many stages, dance floors, competitions, and was on local television. He later began working with a non-profit organization to benefit underprivileged children through learning dance, art, and music. Andy became a teacher at this organization and helped create the atmosphere it has today. In 2005, Andy was hired by Fred Astaire Dance Studios where he taught, and trained with some of the best dancers in the industry today. Ballroom captured Andy’s attention and it quickly became his passion as he studied and received certifications of the highest grades available. The training received was extensive and included the most highly recognized coaches from the United States and the world. In 2008, Andy began to work in collaboration with Andriy Velychko (Founder and Owner of Blue Suede Ballroom Dance Studio) to teach and provide the highest level of dance instruction and advance training to the city of Memphis and all across the Mid-South.  Andriy’s and Andy’s combined expertise includes over 37 years of dance experience and love for the sport itself.   Currently, Andy lives in Memphis and teaches on a daily basis at Blue Suede Ballroom Dance Studio.

Andriy Velychko

Andriy is the founder and owner of Blue Suede Ballroom. Andriy has begun dancing at the age of 10 in Kiev, Ukraine. He started out taking ballroom, jazz and ballet, but later focused primarily on ballroom as it became his passion. Andriy went on to compete professionally both in Ukraine and internationally. He placed in the finals of numerous prestigious competitions. Andriy has also been invited and performed on numerous TV and stage shows and charity events. In addition, he worked as a choreographer and a ballroom dance coach teaching adults and children. Many of his students chose dance as a career path and were very successful in various ballroom dance competitions bot on the national and international levels.
In 1999, Andriy moved to the United States to further pursue his dance career. After teaching ballroom dance in Upper Montclair, NJ, he accepted an invitation to join Fred Astaire Dance Studio in Memphis, TN where he taught from 2000 to 2006. While with Fred Astaire, Andriy received wide recognition among both his students and colleagues having won numerous professional awards such as a Top Teacher Award (regional and national).

Currently, Andriy runs Blue Suede Ballroom on the daily basis, teaches advanced level group classes and private lessons. He is striving to make Blue Suede Ballroom one of the strongest ballroom dance schools in the Mid-South.

Kelly Cooper

Kelly Cooper has been dancing for 8 years. She began dancing at age 15 in Memphis. She took private lessons for two and a half years during which time she competed and performed in multiple competitions and shows. She then became interested in salsa dancing and devoted herself solely to this dance for a year. She performed in shows with a Salsa Memphis salsa team and also competed in the Memphis Salsa Competition in the summer of 2006, taking 2nd place with her partner. The following fall she began her undergraduate studies at Samford University in Birmingham, Alabama where she soon began training as an instructor at the Fred Astaire Dance Studio there owned by Fabian and Jackie Sanchez. She started teaching January 2007 and continued to teach until December 2008. At this studio, she met a new partner with whom she competed in Open American Rhythm for a year, traveling all over the southeast to compete and even competing in Las Vegas. In their first competition together, they became the Fred Astaire Open Rhythm champions of the southeast. Kelly also danced in multiple shows while at the studio in Birmingham. After teaching, performing in shows is her favorite thing about being a professional dancer. When she heard Andriy had opened his own studio, she was excited to get involved because he had been her first dance instructor and now she would have the opportunity to work as an instructor for him. She worked for him in the summer of 2009. She graduated from college with a French major and a Spanish minor in December of 2009, and after she moved home in June of 2010, began to teach at Blue Suede Ballroom full time.