Andriy is the founder and owner of Blue Suede Ballroom. Andriy began 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 a variety of 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 ballroom dance competitions both 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 a national chain dance studio in Memphis, TN where he taught from 2000 to 2006. During these six years of employment, Andriy received wide recognition among both his students and colleagues having won numerous professional awards such as a Top Teacher Award (regional and national) and others. Currently, Andriy runs Blue Suede Ballroom on a daily basis, teaches advanced level group classes and private lessons. He also worked at University of Memphis and created a special ballroom program for them. Andriy is striving to make Blue Suede Ballroom the strongest ballroom dance school in the Mid-South and to popularize ballroom dancing in Memphis area.