About

Shannon Butler is a third-generation swing dancer whose passion for movement was
ignited in early childhood. At just four years old, she began learning social dances from
her mother and received formal training from her great-aunt, a dance school owner. Her
grandparents—avid Collegiate Shag and Lindy Hop dancers—filled family gatherings with big-band music and dancing, sparking a lifelong love of social dance at the vibrant intersection of music, movement and community.
In the early 1990s, Shannon discovered a small local live music and dance scene. By 1997 she was teaching, performing, and competing in swing and vernacular dance.  She joined dance historian Lance Benishek’s Vernacular Dance Ensemble, where she studied and performed social dances spanning the early 1900s through 1970. Their collaboration as educators continued until his passing in 2020. 
Shannon had the rare privilege of learning directly from original-era greats including Betty (Henderson) Wood, Frankie Manning, and Chester Whitmore. She danced in stage productions with dance legends including Norma Miller and The Nicholas Brothers. Her career includes national and international teaching engagements, appearances in two films, television performances featuring Lindy Hop and Collegiate Shag, dancing in two national TV commercials, music videos, and Lindy Hopping for a live audience of over 65,000.

Because Shannon first learned to dance in a place that felt welcoming, patient, and full of encouragement, she strives to bring that same spirit to every class and community gathering she leads. Her teaching is rooted in the belief that dance should feel open and accessible—not intimidating or exclusive—and that everyone deserves the chance to experience the joy, confidence, and connection that dance in all its forms can bring. She creates opportunities for people of many ages and abilities, including seated dance, chair assisted dancing, dance-based exercise classes for senior living communities at all levels of care, and the weekly live music dances they are known for where people can come together, feel included, and share in the simple happiness of great live music and movement.

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Shannon and Bill met through social dancing. After marrying, they became teaching, performing, and competition partners, and together they have taught across the U.S. and overseas. They are best known for teaching swing, Ragtime Era, Depression Era, and Fad Dances of the 1950 & 1960s. They have been instrumental in developing and spreading Heel-Shag worldwide a rare and nearly forgotten swing dance. They are widely recognized as the world's foremost authorities, influencers and instructors of this obscure swing era dance.
 

In 2004, they founded Swing Dance Wednesday Night Twin Cities—now the Twin Cities’ longest-running weekly swing dance featuring live music. Then later created Miss Shannon’s Sock Hop, their monthly live music dance night, which shares its name with their interactive “edutainment”  dance performances. For them the dance floor is a place of joy, expression, and connection—they hope to inspire their students to discover that same spark of happiness through music and movement.