Sandie Bryant Saundra Bryant was born and raised on the South Side of Chicago. She first started square dancing when she was eight years old as a Girl Scout with her best friend Alicia. The leader of the troop happened to be Alicia's mother, world famous square dance caller Swersie Norris. Swersie taught square dancing to youth groups and coached boy's basketball and baseball. In fact, that's how Swersie found dance partners for the girls; she would make the boys dance with them before they could play ball!

By October, Swersie thought Sandie had lost her mind. Sandie had gone from non-dancer to C4 in one year! By the summer of 1980, Sandie called her first National Convention in Memphis and proceeded to establish herself as one of the premiere callers in the country.

Around 1988, a Times Squares dancer told her about a new year-old club called the Chi-Town Squares, who were looking for a caller. Club cofounder, Ron Goodman, later called her, informing her that we were a gay club. Her response was basically, "And I'm a black caller!" So they had a little laugh and it was never an issue from the start. As it turned out, Sandie wasn't available to teach that year on Tuesdays, but she recommended a man by the name of Lindle Jarvis. And the rest is history!

Sandie called a few dances for us at Carol's Speakeasy and then called many regular club dances at the Wellington Ave. Church. In 1989, she called at our first Crossfire fly-in and has called at every one since. Her first IAGSDC convention was in Seattle in 1993.

Sandie is internationally known, having called in Japan, Germany, Sweden, Denmark, Canada and Mexico.

When asked what she likes most about Chi-Town Squares, she said we were an enthusiastic, encouraging, and most of all, fun group. The admiration is definitely mutual. In recognition of her many years of generous and loving support of Chi-Town Squares; her incomparable calling at social dances and classes, her volunteerism at demonstration dances, and her presence at each and every Crossfire fly-in; all of which has resulted in a mutual friendship and admiration by the club and the entire square dancing community, a Lifetime Membership was bestowed upon Sandie in January, 2002.

Sandie still lives on the South Side of Chicago with her husband, Albert and her daughter, Alexandra. We are truly privileged to have Sandie here in Chicago.

Barry Clasper Barry lives in Toronto, Ontario with his wife Pam. They started dancing in 1973, just two weeks after the birth of their youngest son. Barry started calling in 1984 when a local C2 tape group asked for help with some things they couldn't find on teaching tapes. He figured if he was going to write material to help them, he might as well call it. Since then he has expanded in both directions and now calls from MS through C4.

As a dancer, Barry loves choreography that is smooth and flowing yet also provides some mental stimulation and the occasional surprise. When calling, he strives to create this effect through smooth danceable choreography flavoured with a bit of unusual positioning to create a dance experience containing both physical and mental elements.

Barry changed careers in September 2007. He retired from IBM after 30 years and is now a full-time caller and able to travel more than he has in the past. He's called at weekends and conventions in 6 provinces and 20 states, as well as Germany, Sweden, Denmark, Japan and England. He's also a staff caller with the Academy for Advanced and Challenge Enthusiasts (AACE).

Barry has a special place in his heart for Chi-Town because they were the first gay club outside of Toronto to hire him for a club dance. He always looks forward to calling for them when he's in town.

Barry is Chairman of the Challenge Committee at CALLERLAB, and is a member of the Gay Callers Association. He has written articles for Zip Coder, The Call Sheet, and American Square Dance Magazine.

John Oldfield John Oldfield was born in Upstate New York some time in the middle of the last century. Progressively moving west as he went from high school, to college, to graduate school, he ended up in Chicago, Illinois in 1981. Now in his third career since that time, he works for a large printing company located in Elk Grove Village.

John Oldfield was accidentally exposed to Square dancing in the late 1980’s when he went to Carol’s Speakeasy to learn to two-step. After learning through the Advanced level with Lin Jarvis, he began to learn to call Square Dancing, and eventually to teach.

He attended the caller’s school sponsored by the Gay Callers Association in 1992 at the I.A.G.S.D.C convention in Albuquerque, New Mexico.

He currently teaches the Beginning class for the Chi-town Squares, although he has taught all levels from Basic through C-1 over the years. Chi-town Squares is a Gay and Lesbian square dance club on the north side of Chicago and is the largest member of the Metropolitan Chicago Association of Square Dance Clubs. John is a member of both Callerlab, The Association of Square Dance Callers and past vice president and current president of the Gay Callers Association.

He has choreographed the opening scene, an old time square dance, of the opera Susannah for Western Michigan University’s music department and for the College of DuPage, here in Illinois.

He also performed the part of the Square Dance Caller in George Balanchine’s ballet Square Dance with the Joffrey Ballet of Chicago. Square Dance, written in 1958, was performed for the Joffrey’s spring program at the Auditorium Theatre in Chicago in March 2000. The Joffrey Ballet was given a special invitation to reprise the performance at the Balanchine Festival at the Kennedy Center in Washington DC in September 2000.