Sandie Bryant

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Sandie's reaction as she realized she's about to receive the Golden Boot from Mary Jane Wood

Saundra McElroy Bryant

I'm the one with the low voice

Clubs & Associations

Biography

Saundra Bryant was born and raised on the South Side of Chicago. She first started square dancing when she was 8 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!

After going to college, Sandie returned to square dancing in 1978. By this time, CALLERLAB had established dance levels and calling lists. She went back to a Beginners class Swersie was teaching, but didn't believe she'd remember any of her past training. To everyone's surprise, she wound up directing traffic in the square. So Swersie gave her the entire Mainstream and Plus lists to study.

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 co-founder, Ron Goodman, called Saundra to inform her that Chi-Town Squares was a gay club. Sandie's response was basically, "And I'm a black female caller!" Ron and Sandie 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 Chi-Town Squares at Carol's Speakeasy and then called many regular club dances at the Wellington Ave. Church. In 1989, she called at Chi-Town's first fly-in and has called at every one since. Her first IAGSDC convention was Remake The Circle in Seattle in 1993.

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

Sandie still lives on the South Side of Chicago with her husband, Albert. Their daughter, Alexandra lives in North Carolina, and as of April 2025, was in the process of moving to Virginia.

Is it Sandie or Saundra?
Here's what Sandie wrote when asked which she prefers:

I prefer Sandie but my email is SaUndra because I can't get people to pronounce my name correctly. I HATE SANDRA. It is NOT my name and it bugs me that people CAN'T READ!!!!! My name is a part of my profession. If people can't spell it correctly or pronounce it correctly it burns me up. I have even had people try to "correct" the spelling of Saundra by omitting the U. It is MY NAME! You would think I would know how to spell it.

Just like Sandie is IE because it is the feminine spelling. There are lots of males named Sandy. Sander Vanocer was a famous announcer. Sandy Kofax was a baseball player. A lot of guys named Alexander are called Sandy. So since I am female, I spell it SANDIE.
That is the story of my name and please excuse my ranting.
Love ya,
Sandie

Good Twin or Evil Twin?
For many years, Sandie and Anne Uebelacker have perpetrated a running joke, in which any complaints about their calling were answered by "Oh, that must have been my evil twin," (meaning the other one). This has extended to custom shirts, one reading "Good Twin", one reading "Evil Twin", or sometimes both shirts reading "Evil Twin".

Quick Facts

Sandie's profile on ceder.net

GCA Caller School

  • coach 1995, 1997, 1998, 2004, 2008, 2010, 2012, 2025

Media Features

This week’s Chicagoan: Saundra Bryant, square-dance caller

‘I used to say I’m not prejudiced, but I found that I’m prejudiced against stupidity’

by Anne Ford

Chicago Reader

December 1, 2011


A first-person account from off the beaten track, as told to Anne Ford.

“At one point, there were 25 or 30 African-American square-dance callers. Now there are probably 12 or 14 of us in the whole world. This is my job, and there are times I work more than 40 hours a week. Prior to that, I was an accountant.

“It’s hard to get African-Americans into square dancing, because the media still pushes it as an old-fashioned, redneck kind of thing. It is not. Until we get past that gingham-check, hoopskirt, knee-slapping, fiddling-out-in-the-barn stereotype, I don’t think we’ll get a lot of African-Americans in it.

“I’ve never liked country music. Nor have I ever liked traditional square-dance clothes, petticoats and whatever. In my repertoire right now is Cee-Lo Green, ‘Forget You.’ ‘Disco Inferno,’ by Tina Turner. Some stuff by Lady Gaga.

“I did the Taste of Chicago a few years ago, and we were in a tent. The dancers were out front, but I was in the back. People were walking by, and I would say, ‘Why don’t you stop and dance?’ They’d see me and their mouths would drop, because they didn’t expect to see someone black, first of all, giving directions to 30 or 40 Caucasians, and second of all, in this activity.

“Square dancing is done on a grid-type formation. Picture a chess board. The moves that the chess pieces make are the moves that are spoken to the dancers. If I say the equivalent of ‘queen to rook four’ or whatever, the dancers have to know where to move. Very few people realize that there are 11 levels of square dancing. To go through the beginning level, there’s 68 different figures you have to learn. I probably know somewhere around 6,000 movements.

“I’ve called in places like Japan, Denmark, Austria, Sweden, Germany. The interesting thing is that there is no translation into any language for square-dance terminology. It’s all done in English. A lot of the Japanese have learned English from square dancing.

“When the Chi-Town Squares [Chicago’s gay and lesbian square-dance club] first asked me to call, they were just starting out. A gentleman came to me and said ‘There’s a new club starting, and they could really use you.’ I didn’t really pay attention to whether he was gay or straight. That was insignificant to me.

“Then the founder of Chi-Town called and said they wanted to hire me to call a dance. I said ‘Sure, let me get a calendar.’ And he said, ‘Just a minute, I have something to tell you. We’re a gay club.’ My comment to him was, ‘And I’m a black caller. You still want me to get the calendar?’

“I used to say I’m not prejudiced, but I found that I’m prejudiced against stupidity. Really. I think that people who are prejudiced are stupid, and that irritates me. Along with some other things people do. But in general, I’m not prejudiced against anything. Folks are folks.


Golden Boot Award

In 2012, Mary Jane Wood presented Sandie with the Golden Boot Award.
In 2013, Sandie presented the award to JW Paulson.

Medallion Dancer

CALLERLAB Milestone Award

Sandie receiving her Milestone Award. (Picture by Bill Eyler.)

On April 14, 2025, at the 50th Annual CALLERLAB Convention, held in Greenville, SC, Sandie was surprised to receive CALLERLAB's highest honor, the Milestone Award.

CALLERLAB Chair Ted Lizotte not only finagled Sandie into attending CALLERLAB for the first time in many years, but arranged for Sandie's husband Albert to be present as a surprise.

Sandie is one of only four people/couples who have received both the Golden Boot and the CALLERLAB Milestone. The others are Vic & Debbie Ceder, Barry & Pam Clasper and Betsy Gotta.



Photos

Videos

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YouTube

Sandie and Anne calling at Crossfire XX, 2009

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