Elena Minaeva and her husband
Aleksei Minaev have been partners for 21 years -- since 2001. As professional International Latin and International Standard 10-dance competitors, their accolades include:
* 2004 World Medalist Youth Standard WDC&DSC Champions,
* 2005 European WDC&DSC Medalist Ballroom Champions
* 2021 - 10 Dance US National Bronze Champions
* 2020 Eastern US 10 dance Champions
* 3-time Fred Astaire Ballroom National Champions* 4-time Fred Astaire 10 Dance Champions
* 2021 Ohio Star Ball 10 Dance Vice Champions
* 2019 Ohio Star Ball
Professional Rising Star Champions
Together they own Fred Astair Dance Studio Willoughby, near Cleveland.
Heriberto "Heri" Perez and Nika Obrosova have a combined dance experience of more than 27 years in both lead and follow roles.
They share a love for dance and teaching that allows them to interact with students in a unique way, and their understanding of the differences between various styles makes them adept at solving problems students might encounter across different platforms of dance. Heri and Nika dance more than 30 different styles proficiently (both social and competitive).
Heri and Nika have been a part of Viva Dance Studio in Cleveland for the past five years, but they enjoy traveling and quite possibly run on nothing but coffee most of the time!
They’ve taught at SaBaKiZou (Columbus), Mile High Fusion (Denver), Dallas Fusion Reaction (Dallas), HiFi Fusion (Seattle), Motley Hue (NYC), and are planning on traveling and teaching more!
Brandon Barker and Chelsea Cherie are a husband-and-wife dance team that competes professionally in theatre arts/cabaret.
They twice were invited to dance in the Blackpool World Dance Festival -- and will be competing there just days before teaching at our Weekender -- and have performed nationally and internationally in various TV programs, music videos, and other performers. Brandon and Chelsea were the Fred Astaire Undefeated Regional Theatre Arts Champions for seven years (2010-2017), the Fred Astaire Theatre Arts World Champions in 2014, and have been Ohio Star Ball Theatre Arts Finalists consistently since 2011. Together they teach in through their studio BC Dance Passion in Columbus.
Brandon and Chelsea love to coach dancing and share their knowledge and experiences with other dancers to help them breakthrough performance barriers and find the freedom that comes from great dancing and great story telling!
Ruben Justin Lopez was born and raised in Brooklyn, NY. At age 7 he started taking salsa classes with his sister at La Salsa De Hoy. He later joined Young Ambition Dance Company and attended the LaGuardia High School of Music & Art and Performing Arts, where he trained in ballet, tap, and jazz, as well as other modern techniques (Horton, Graham, and Cunningham). In 2010 he joined Latin Fever, which became Balmir Latin Dance Studio the following year.
As a member of the professional dance company, he performed and taught in numerous international venues, such as Peru, Canada, Dominican Republic, Cuba, and Italy. Justin has trained extensively in Latin dances including Salsa On1 and On2, Latin Hustle, Afro-Cuban, Cha Cha, Bachata, and Kizomba. One notable experience was performing with PrimaDanceSport to work on a piece honoring HBO’s 30th Anniversary of "Dirty Dancing".
In 2018 he and his partner opened Lesalsa Dance Studio in Lakewood, Ohio.
