Callers & Cuers

I first came in contact with Square Dancing in 1989 and a new hobby was born!
In 1993, I got the chance to call my first singing calls on a “fun-night” of my home club. A new hobby, from within an existing hobby, had come to be!
Since the beginning of this millennium, I have had the opportunity to call for several clubs in The Netherland, unfortunately most of them don’t exist anymore due to a lack of dancers.
In all my years, as a Caller, I have been lucky enough to Call in several European countries, including: Belgium, Germany, Austria and Slovakia and - as a consequence of this - I have had the chance to meet lots and lots of great people, from all over the world.
Now a day, I call for 2 clubs in The Netherlands and Germany up to Plus.
Together with my girlfriend Mirjam, I live in Apeldoorn.

I am very active in the Square Dance scene in the UK.
I call several club nights each week as well as weekend events through my club, All Square At Zero, recruiting new dancers using a variation of the SSD program, and proving fun dance evenings, as well as developing existing dancers, through our Mainstream, Plus, A1 and A2 evenings and workshops.
I regularly call "Saturday night dances" (though they are often now in the afternoon) and weekend events locally, in the UK and, on occasion, in Europe and the USA.
I am the president for the SDCCGB (the Square Dance Callers Club of Great Britain) and the president of the L&HC RCA (the London & Home Counties Regional Caller Assembly), which means I regularly present and lead discussions on various topics relating to calling.
I am a staff caller for Shindig productions and have provided the vocals on over a dozen of their releases.
I also call non-Square Dance parties including Barn Dances, Hoedowns and Mixers, often including Line Dances too (as desired by the organisers).
I am also known for including Rectangles, Triangles, Hexagons, Tandem Squares, and Progressive Squares (moving dancers from square to square) and happily include these for variety when asked to do so.

I am 55 years old and i live in Norrköping Sweden.
I started squaredancing in 1982 just outside of Nyköping. I started calling in 1992, at that time I lived in Örebro.
I have called in Denmark, Norway, Germany, Tjeckien and a couple of swedish conventions.
I call from basic to A2. This year I was one of the callers at the swedish convention.

Joachim was born in 1958. He graduated after a square-dance-class in Solingen in 1980 and started to call in 1981.
Joachim is calling for several clubs continuously, e.g. the Triangle Squares, which he co-founded in 1995. He called at several events, and loves to do so with other Callers as well.
Joachim attended numerous Caller-Schools and trained Callers as well. He is an initiator and supporter of the EAASDC-Hearing-Aid – a project for people who want to have fun at dancing despite limitations in hearing.
Joachim likes to dance– not only Square Dance, but Round and Scottish as well. He works as a Software-Engineer and has lived in Wuppertal since 30 years.

Sven started calling in 1996 and is a Callerlab member since 2011.
He calls classes, dances, one-night-stands and festivals. Sometimes as many as 17 classes in one week. Sven has been calling several times at the Ericsson Jamboree and the Swedish National Convention.
He calls and teaches from beginners thru C1 and also square games.
It is important to Sven with timing, body flow, definitions and to ease the ability of hearing and understanding to the dancers. He varies slow and fast calling, and also standard and more advanced choreography.
Sven has also been a caller coach at the SACT Caller School.

You might know him by his nickname Slamák, which he had since his student years.
He started square dancing in 1989 after a previous experience with country dances. He was graduated at the Phantom Promenaders in Munich.
At the moment he is doing Square Dance up to level C1.
In 1990 he started calling for his own club: the Country Farrow in Prague. Slamak has been calling for 32 years B to A2 at special dances, club evenings in Czech republic, Slovakia and abroad.
He currently calls for a small group of younger dancers in Prague and also calls for the German club Wild Bunch in Waldershof.
He is one of the founders of the ABC Records company, where he is presented by the songs such as: I will follow him, Leaving on the Jet plane, Tell me ma ...
He is a member of CSCTA - CZECHOSLOVAK CALLERS & TEACHERS ASSOCIATION.
His other hobbies, besides square dancing, are martial arts and combat sports. He hates the colour pink and raisins. He is a realistic person and doesn't fly in the sky. He has been working in the computer company as ICT lecturer.

I was born on 10th of November 1974 in Aalborg - Denmark.
In 1986 my mother began dancing traditional square dance. After a couple of years, the club where she was dancing, started doing New Style Square Dance (a Danish version of Square Dance). My father started dancing in 1987.
In the spring of 1989, the club had a demo, which I attended; this would be a one-off event (or so I believed).
In the fall of 1989 I attended the World Square Dance Convention in Gothenburg, Sweden. This was the first time I saw Modern Western Square Dancing.
In the fall of 1989, the club started doing Modern Western Square Dancing. Now there was only one problem - the club didn't have an instructor or caller.
Things happened, so I was designated to flip the tapes that we used. After a short while, I became interested in how calling was done. Later that fall, I started looking into it.
In January 1990 I went to my first caller school with Robert Björk and Ingvar Pettersson (from Sweden). During 1990 I attended 3 schools with Robert and Ingvar. In 1991 I attended a caller school with Don Beck and Al Stevens in Germany.
Since 1990 I have been invited to Call at the National Convention in Denmark 10 times and the Swedish National Convention 2 times. I have also been featured as a Caller on the European Square Dance Convention 7 times.
Additionally, I have been calling, at Dances in Germany, France, Poland, Belgium, Sweden, Denmark, Norway, USA and Canada.
When not teaching class, I also spend some time on the music for Square Dance – Running the New-Beat label with the rest of the guys on it.
Really looking forward to be calling the Euro-Convention 2024

Paul Bristow is from South Ruislip (pronounced “Rice-Slip”), near London in the UK.
He has been Calling since 1977 and Calls on a weekly basis for three Clubs. He also regularly Calls at events in the UK, the Greater European area and various locations around the world.
Paul is the owner and producer of Sting Records. During the last 38 years he has recorded a total of 117 Square dance records (113 on Sting and 4 on other labels).
In April 2000 - having met the relevant criteria and completed the necessary examinations and evaluations - Paul achieved the status of "CALLERLAB Accredited Caller Coach", an honour that he still holds; having so-far been re-accredited on four occasions. He conducts Caller Training courses all around the world.
Paul has the full support of his wife - Hazel and his two daughters - Verity and Cherish, all of whom support him and help to keep him where he is - but with both of his feet FIRMLY on the ground!

Born in 1965, Søren tried out square dancing by accident in 1990. He then thought that it would be even more fun, if he could actually do the teacher's job.
Søren is known for being an entertainer and appreciated though all levels for his calling.
Søren has been calling for more than 30 years, this year 2022 when the season starts he has been calling for Fredensborg SD for 30 years without any breaks, he also teaches in Roskilde SDC.
He has called dances and festivals across all of Europe, even been to the US and Canada several times.
He is one of the producers and artists on New-Beat Production making music for our fantastic activity.
He resides in Helsingør in Denmark with his lovely wife Henriette and their 2 sons Albert and Jacob.

Started dancing in 1980 and calling in 1985.
Calling beginners through C2 he has travelled all over Europe to Japan and USA.
Mickey has made recordings on various labels and belongs to the staff of HiHat Records. Involved in caller training he currently runs the Bavarian Caller School.
Mickey is a certified member of CALLERLAB and holds several positions in the organisation. He is also a member of ECTA.
Well known for his singing voice and entertainment he believes in Square Dancing. People, who never met before share the togetherness and gladness of a common experience.

With Callers Club excepting rounds she was able to access the benefits of membership and quickly established herself as a Teacher of Rounds with accreditation and the Harry Preston Award.
Since then she has been an important part of ensuring rounds has a place in the UK and has recently handed over the chair of the Round Dance Council, a body that is working hard to encourage dancers and cuers in the UK.
For a number of years Michael has been her techie, an endearing term for a man of all trades. He has supported her at all times and has become her obedient teaching partner. For the level of support given to both Judi and the wider round dance community he was also honoured with the award.
Judi has been dancing squares since she completed University and was initially introduced to rounds by Alan and Joyce Sherriffs. With the support of local dancers, she was encouraged into cueing rounds. In 1991 Scarlet Ribbons Round Dance Club was born and they have recently reached their 29th birthday.

My name is Pavel Hosenseidl, and I live in small city close to Prague in Czech republic.
I cuing from 1990 year an I’m one from the first cuers in Czech republic. I’m active from this time till now, I’m cueing mostly on local events (in Czech), sometimes also in any events in Europe (eg. RD weekend in England, EU convention in Kladno, special dance in Russia).
I have experience to teach and making own choreographies in phase IV-V, but I’m able to cue till from phase I to phase VI. Currently I’m a leader of a small RD club “Grasshoppers” in Prague.

Don was graduated from the Mannheim Mixers in Square Dance in Mainstream in 1978, and also became a Round Dancer in 1979. Soon he became interested in calling and cueing. In 1979 he joined ECTA, already in 1980 as an active caller and cuer.
He is also a member of Callerlab and Roundalab, at many festivals and conventions Don has been on the program.
He has called and cued for many clubs, currently cuing for Rhythm Rounds. Don has also served on the ECTA Board for eleven years, ten of those as Round Dance Coordinator.
Don recently received an honorary lifetime membership from ECTA.

Gert-Jan and Susie started round dancing in 1984 and cueing and teaching in 1986. They have a Carousels Club in The Netherlands, and also one in the Atlanta, GA area.
They have taught festivals all over Europe, in The United States and at different week-long events in Europe.
They were the organizers for 25 years of Europe's biggest, longest-running Square and Round Dance week where they have continuous dance classes in 3 halls all day, and dancing in 3 halls each evening. They enjoy cueing, teaching and choreography and 2 of their dances are Roundalab Golden Classics.
They are members of ECTA, ROUNDALAB (RAL), CALLERLAB (Gert-Jan has also been a caller), and ICBDA. They have served on RAL Committees and have worked with RAL to help develop a standard cue sheet template. Gert-Jan is a former amateur ballroom champion and has taken part in various competitions including the Open British Championships in Blackpool.