Jean Butler was born on March 14, 1971 in Minneola, Long Island. She began taking ballet and tap dance lessons at the age of four but quit after a short while. She started taking Irish dance lessons at the age of 6 which she also promptly quit. She was more into being a tomboy and playing soccer and baseball with her brother. However, at the age of 9, Jean started taking Irish dance lessons again with teacher Donny Golden. She quickly became an amazing dancer and by the time she was 17 she was already performing with bands like the Chieftains and Cherish the Ladies.
Jean went to to the University of Birmingham in England where she received an Honors degree in Theatre and Drama. While in England she performed a dance number with Colin Dunne (later her partner in Riverdance) at the Mayo 5000 where Moya Doherty saw her and invited her to perform in the 1994 Eurovision Song Contest with Micheal Flatley and a troup of Irish dancers. The seven minute performance was such a success that Riverdance- The Show was born. After Riverdance, Jean tried acting and starred in her first movie The Brylcreem Boys with Gabriel Byrne. Jean decided to go back to dancing and teamed up with her former Riverdance partner Colin Dunne to create a new show; Dancing On Dangerous Ground. After a run in London and another in New York, the show stopped because of financial reasons. Earlier this year Jean married Cuan Hanely, an Irish fashion designer. We wish Jean and Cuan every happiness in their new marriage and hope to see more of Jean's beautiful dancing in the future. |
