Larry Tradup started square dancing with the Florida Mustangs in the early 90's; but when he fell out of a tree and broke his back, his square dancing came to an abrupt end. He moved to Chicago in 1998 and joined the ChiTown Squares, and has been kickin' up his heels ever since.

Larry grew up in Faribault, Minnesota and attended the University of Minnesota, where he received a Bachelor of Science degree with a major in Music Education. Larry's professional career included public school music teaching, school administration, and church music, all in the state of New Jersey. For most of those years Larry lived in New York City, and he spent his summers at a cabin he purchased at Candlewood Lake in Connecticut, which served as a substitute for the Minnesota lakes of his youth, and is where he earned a Master's Degree from Western Connecticut State University.

During his years on the east coast, Larry acted, sang, and directed in amateur theater groups in and around NYC, and appeared for many years on the WCBS-TV program "Patchwork Family", a children's television show. In 1972, by invitation, he became the first conductor of The Lakeside Choraliers, a Northern New Jersey mixed chorus, a position which he held for seventeen years.

When he retired, Larry moved to Florida, where among his other activities, he directed the Gay Mens' Chorus of South Florida for several years. "Nine years in Florida is more punishment than any man should have to take," so Larry moved to Chicago in 1998.

He loves Chicago and the ChiTown Squares, and plans to "hang around" for a long time.