Sandie Bryant

Anne Uebelacker

John Oldfield

Kris Jensen

Michael Maltenfort

Arlene Kaspik

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.

Anne Uebelacker Anne was born and grew up in Peterborough, Ontario, of Scottish parents who shared with her their interest and talent in music. They all played instruments in the home, and Anne who has been playing since age 7, has a musical expertise that extends to the accordion, saxophone, and clarinet.

As a teenager, Anne and her Dad played at a local dinner club (background music for dining). Anne's parents were very much into ballroom dancing. As a child Anne knew nothing of square dancing. After finishing high school her parents took square-dancing lessons.

When a local Mainstream caller was having a weekend dancing campout that her parents were planning to attend, they invited Anne to come along to swim, enjoy the outdoors, or whatever since she had no specific plans for that weekend. It turned out that the dance was one person short of an additional square and Anne was drafted to fill in. After three days and a lot of push, pull, and shove, she was dancing (almost at Plus level) - and she was hooked! Anne began dancing at the local Mainstream club, enjoying it immensely and became friends with local dancers, Jean and Dave Johnstone.

Dave approached her one night and ask if she might be interested in dancing t a higher level. Anne exclaimed that she thought she was dancing the top level! She did not know there was anything higher, and when she was invited to go with them to Toronto she was really excited at the prospects. She did go and hardly understood anything said the entire evening. After it was all over she was acutely aware that there was a lot more more to square dancing than she had ever dreamed, and thought, "That's for me!"

Anne started calling in 1976 for a children's group and has progressed to call for all dancing levels from Basic to C4. A strong "home" program for Squares Across the Border Monday through Thursday complements an equally busy traveling schedule on the week-ends that may find her calling anywhere from Vancouver to Florida, Boston to San Francisco and across the miles to Japan and Europe. Some of the calling highlights she is really proud of are her calling assignments at the numerous IAGSDC Conventions in Canada and the Unites States, the Canadian Challenge Convention, the National Challenge Convention, and the Academy of Advanced and Challenge Enthusiasts. Anne's relaxed style and easy listening voice have won her many square dance friends at all the dancing levels. Anne resides in Burnaby, British Columbia, with her son Todd and her life partner Sally.

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.

Kris Jensen Kris started square dancing in 1990 (dragged to classes by her new sweetie, Turtle-Bear) and calling in 1991. Bill Eyler provided information, inspiration and invaluable mentoring, and the Wilde Bunch provided support and mike time. Her first out-of-town calling experience was an open mike at Crossfire in 1991. She's been back almost every year since then.

Kris currently calls Basic through C2 weekly, and has called for many fly-ins and three IAGSDC conventions. She also calls contras for Albuquerque and Santa Fe FolkMADS. She's a past president of the GCA and the New Mexico Central District Callers Association, and is currently president of the Albuquerque Square Dance Center Board of Directors. She's also vice-chairman of CALLERLAB's Challenge Committee. Turtle-Bear is now Kris' life partner; they celebrated their 19th anniversary this year. In her non- square dancing life (is there such a thing?), Kris co-owns a software development company.

Michael Maltenfort I've been dancing for quite a while. I learned Plus while I was still in high school, with the Wilmette club, "Fascinating Singles." Classes at that club went fast. Each year we had two complete BMP classes, one January to May, and the other August to December. Although they folded years ago, I still have fond memories.

I only danced occasionally as an undergraduate in upstate New York, and although I returned to Chicago for graduate school in 1991, I barely danced for the next few years. But then at the Gay Pride parade in 1994, I marched with other graduate students, and, by chance, we were just in front of Chi-Town Squares. I was bleeding slightly from a cut in my forehead, because on the way to the parade I had walked into a light post. Yes, a light post. People in Chi-Town squares wondered out loud whether they really wanted to dance with such a klutz. But then, first impressions aren't everything.

With Chi-Town Squares, I learned Advanced from Lin Jarvis in one of his last Advanced classes. (Soon after, John Oldfield began to teach Advanced, and Lin taught only the BMP class.) Before I knew it, I was learning the challenge levels. For about four years, I was in one of Sandie Bryant's weekly workshops, in which I learned C3A and C3B. I did leave the workshop for a time, though, when I was a Peace Corps volunteer in Kenya.

Becoming a caller had interested me for years-I actually signed up for caller school in 1995, but didn't go through with it. Even so, Lin Jarvis let me do two guest tips, a singing call (in 1996) and a full tip at Chi-Town's Halloween dance in 2001. In January 2002, I began calling the review for Lin's BMP class, and things took off from there. Most years through 2006 I continued to call review sessions for Chi-Town's Advanced or C-1 classes.

I moved from calling review sessions and occasional tips to calling classes and full dances. I have taught Mainstream, Plus and Advanced classes for Chi-Town Squares, and I have called dances locally for Chi-Town Squares, Recyclers, Cloverleafs, McHenry B&B, and other clubs both locally and in Saint Louis, Grand Rapids, and Kansas City. I attended the annual caller school of the Gay Callers Association first in 2002, and several times since then. I am a full member of CALLERLAB, the international association of square dance callers, and am currently the treasurer of the Gay Callers Association.

My big interest other than square dancing is mathematics. I teach math at Truman College, one of the City Colleges of Chicago. For some square dancers like me, mathematics and square dancing are pretty much the same thing. If you see me talking excitedly about something, it could be about a new square dance call or bit of choreography, or it could be about a lecture on infinitesimal calculus or a book on topology.

But square dancing has one major advantage over mathematics: it's all about a group of people having fun together.

Arlene Kaspik Arlene enrolled in the Chi-Town Squares BMP class in September of 2002. She claims she came to the first class because she was tired of having Chi-Town Squares members ask her when she would FINALLY join her partner (Kate Reed) on the dance floor. After a couple of tips she was been dancing ever since.

Arlene called her first tip for Chi-Town Squares at the club's chili dance in January of 2006. She decided to test the water before committing to attend a caller school. She commented that the most important thing she discovered that day was that it was a lot of fun watching several squares of dancers move in unison to the music and the calls. She also mentioned that the second most important thing she learned that day was to hold the microphone so that you don't hit the reset button in the middle of a singing call!

Arlene attended GCA caller school is 2006, 2007 and 2008. In September of 2006 she was invited to assist Saundra Bryant with the Chi-Town Squares BMP class and she has been helping out ever since. She conducts a 30 minute review each week to help students review the previous week's calls. She also helps answer student questions, and fills in as needed.

Arlene feels fortunate to have had several opportunities to call over the past 4 years. In addition to calling guest tips at some of the Chi-Town Squares dances, she has also called guest tips at Crossfire for the past 3 years. In addition, she has called guest tips at the past 3 IAGSDC conventions, MCASD regional dances, and the Illinois State Convention. She has called dances for Arlington Squares and Gateway Squares and has also called for fun nights at private parties.