Allan Hurst
Allan Hurst has been dancing since 1995, and his first IAGSDC Convention was "Stars, Thars, & Cable Cars" in San Francisco in 1996.
Allan has been calling since 1997, when he attended his first GCA Caller School, coached by Anne Uebelacker, Sandie Bryant, and Ed Foote. He has attended a number of caller schools since, both GCA and other.
Allan is a member of CALLERLAB, the editor of the GCA’s technical journal, “The Call Sheet.”
Allan spent many years calling and teaching at multiple IAGSDC clubs in the San Francisco Bay Area, including El Camino Reelers, Midnight Squares, Foggy City Dancers, Oaktown 8's and Diablo Dancers.
Allan served for several years as a co-administrator of Midnight Squares, and for multiple terms as an El Camino Reelers board member. He’s served on multiple IAGSDC convention committees, including writing the fun badge tours for Santa Clara 2005, Chicago 2010, and Salt Lake City 2014, the newsletters for St. Louis 2015, and serving on the core committees for Houston 2021 and Minneapolis 2022.
In April of 2022, he moved to Sacramento, where he's been calling on a fill-in or occasional basis for Prime 8's, Capital City Squares, Main Street Strollers, Pear Steppers, Sierra Squares, and Whirl-a-Ways.
Allan became Capital City Squares primary club caller in August of 2023.
He enjoys calling Basic and SSD through C1, although his self-described "sweet spot" is Advanced, as several Sac area clubs have discovered. He enjoys both teaching and calling, with an emphasis on making dancers more comfortable with APD and DBD choreography.
Allan's calling style was influenced by Andy Shore, Mike DeSisto, Anne Uebelacker, Sandie Bryant, Harlan Kerr, and Scot Byars.
When not calling, Allan heads up the IAGSDC History Project, responsible for capturing and putting online the history of the IAGSDC's people, events, and culture. This includes publishing a facsimile edition of the out of print "10 Years IAGSDC" book, creating the IAGSDC History Wiki, and working with James Ozanich on the (Sacramento-based) IAGSDC Memorial Panels project to bring high-resolution images of the panels online, linked to a list of decedents and memorial pages.
Allan was the 2019 recipient of the IAGSDC Golden Boot award, which he received from Barry and Pam Clasper, and which he passed on to Vic, Debbie, and Caitlyn Ceder at a most memorable presentation in Minneapolis in 2022.
Tom Kaiser (Emeritus)
Tom has been calling square dancing since September 2010.
He calls Basic through A2 Programs, and called for Capital City Squares, Marysville Good Vibrations, and Grass Valley Goldancers.
He is a member of both CALLERLAB and the Gay Callers Association. In addition, Tom cues round dancing through Phase IV.
In 2023, Tom moved to Michigan, where he continues to be active in square dancing, calling for several clubs.