Siobhan Butler

Siobhan Butler is a traditional dancer, dance researcher, and founder of the online irish dance education platform: Bánóg. Informed by decades of field work in traditional percussive dance, Siobhan’s work as a performer and educator has taken her to stages and institutions around the world where she has been privileged to collaborate with music and dance artists such as Nuala Kennedy, Steve Cooney, Nic Gareiss, Tony DeMarco, Damien Connolly, Sandy Silva, Kieran Jordan, and many more. Siobhan’s creations draw from the ephemeral qualities of movement, local traditions, and nature, finding inspiration in the interconnectedness of dance, music, landscape, and people. Since moving to Ireland from the United States in 2016, Siobhan’s primary dance influences are some of County Clare’s greatest Set dancers and their unique “battering” style. She uses this influence along with her background in other percussive dance forms to design her own unique voice as an artist.

Siobhan is a passionate advocate for further developing the intersection between traditional dance and music and therefore frames much of her performance and teaching work around the musicality of traditional dance. She also campaigns for percussive dance and dancers being represented in spaces generally oriented towards music like festivals and in audio recordings, in addition to presenting Irish dance from a holistic lens. Her goal as an educator is to show that Irish dances are fundamental to the heritage of Ireland while also being a catalyst from which we can create a more inclusive and equitable identity of Irish culture.

Siobhan has a BA in Anthropology from Goddard College (USA) and a MA in Ethnochoreology from the University of Limerick (IRE). She lives in Manorhamilton, Leitrim with her husband, stonemason and traditional musician, Dominic Keogh.