Who We Are

Vermont Swings is a nonprofit group lead by a great team of board members who volunteer their time to further their love of swing and social dancing, and honor the African-American roots of Jazz Music and Lindy Hop.


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  • John Antram
    Instructor / DJ / Co-treasurer

    A swing dancer since 2002, John has taken classes with top instructors from around the world and travels to many events, returning with new moves and excitement for whatever event is next. Known for his easygoing classes, he enthusiastically helps others learn, in a friendly and comfortable atmosphere. John has been serving as DJ for several years and always has an ear open for new music. You can find him at virtually every Vermont Swings practice session, event, and class.

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  • Jessie Blake
    Instructor/DJ

    Jessie has been joyously dancing through her life since elementary school. She has explored many forms of dance including tap, jazz, salsa, and stepping. She began taking dance classes again as an adult in 2016. She loves all forms of dance, but especially loves the joyous and playful expression of lindy hop and the warm and welcoming community of Vermont Swings. In addition to her experience dancing, she is a licensed Vermont educator and has been the director of an independent middle school since 2017. She started teaching with Vermont Swings in January of 2023 and loves to encourage new students and help them find joy in learning. Jessie joined the Vermont Swings board in May of 2023 and is excited to help foster the growth of this wonderful multigenerational community.

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  • Michael Boucher
    Instructor / DJ

    Michael started swing dancing in 2005 after attending a Saturday dance at the Champlain Club, . He took the beginner class and "never stopped coming." Over the years, he has attended a number of swing dance events, including Swing Out New Hampshire and Cat's Corner dances in Montreal, and all the classes hosted by Vermont Swings. "Dancing," he says, "allows me to feel the music as well as hear it. I feel almost like a musician, but without playing an instrument." Swing, like the jazz music it's danced to, has a form and structure that allows improvisation and expression. Michael enjoys all styles of swing dance, but has particular affection for Lindy Hop and Blues dancing. He has DJed Vermont Swings events since 2008, and his playlists reflect his love for classic and modern swing dance tunes with occasional forays into pop, soul, blues, and country-swing. He began instructing in 2012 and teaches beginner level courses.

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  • Terry Bouricius
    Instructor / DJ

    Terry has taught thousands of students the basics of East Coast swing in Vermont since 1983. Students appreciate his detailed break-down of moves and fun style of teaching. While he dabbles with other dance styles, including various ballroom dances and Argentine Tango, swing is his mainstay. In addition to his passion for social dancing and local politics, Terry spends a great deal of time as a house husband, and along with his wife and dance partner, Cate, raising their two children.

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  • Juliana Dixon
    Instructor/DJ

    Juliana began learning Lindyhop in 1994 in England. The Jiving Lindyhoppers offered an intensive training at her school, starting Juliana on a path that would take her to Sweden, Germany, England, Denmark, and up and down the west coast of the U.S. studying, teaching, and performing Swing Dance.  She had the opportunity to study with one of the most influential founders of Lindyhop - Frankie Manning, and the incredible Rhythm Hot Shots from Sweden.

    Juliana has performed on an aircraft carrier, for Danish television, for the Lord Mayor of Cork, Ireland, and her work has been featured on the Oprah Winfrey network.  She has taught with Frankie Manning, Simon Selmon, Catrine Ljunggren of the Rhythm Hot Shots, Didier Jean-Francois of Studio 88 Swing, and ran teachers’ workshops for the Northern Germany region. Juliana loves performing, and started Just For Kicks, a local Swing Dance performance team, sharing the joy of this high energy dance across the region.

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  • Sarah King
    Instructor, Event Coordinator, DJ

    Sarah King has been dancing her whole life, but her first experience swing dancing was in a high school gym class in 2009.  At college in Poughkeepsie, the local swing dance was only a short walk from her dorm, so Sarah got lots of practice social dancing when quick "study breaks" would frequently turn into joyful hours of dancing.  When she came back to VT on college breaks, and later moved back to the state, Vermont Swings became her new swing dance home.  She became a member of the Vermont Swings board in 2018.  By day, Sarah is an elementary school teacher.  The rest of the time, Sarah loves all sorts of dancing, particularly partner dancing, more particularly swing dancing, and even more particularly Lindy Hop and Collegiate Shag.  Sarah always enjoys the chance to enthusiastically welcome newcomers to the Vermont Swings community!

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  • Cate Lamb
    INSTRUCTOR / CO-TREASURER / BAND COORDINATOR

    Cate met her husband, Terry Bouricius, while a student in his Latin ballroom dance class in 1988. Shortly thereafter, Terry taught Cate East Swing and they have been swing dancing together ever since.  They began Lindy in 1993 on their honeymoon in Seattle, WA. Cate works as a middle school teacher, co-teaches many of our dance lessons with Terry, and is Vermont Swings band coordinator and co-treasurer.

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  • David Moore
    Central VT Dance Coordinator/Instructor/DJ

    David grew up watching entirely too many jazz era films for a kid in the 80s and early 90s, idolizing Fed Astaire and the Nicholas Brothers. He soon picked up six-count swing in high school in 1995, where he started a ballroom club and somehow convinced his DJ friend to play Sing Sing Sing at school dances. When he began college in 1998, in Youngstown, Ohio, he learned Lindy Hop and the Charleston (and pretended to know Balboa), danced every week and traveled to the Pittsburgh and Cleveland scenes on weekends as often as he could. Then, post-college and after nearly a ten year detour down to Atlanta for work and starting a family, he moved to Vermont in 2018.
    David runs occasional dances out of the Grange Hall in Waterbury Center and comes out to dance in Burlington as often as he can. He loves dancing Lindy to very fast music and very slow music, but really just loves any music that swings hard. 

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  • Eric Recchia
    Instructor/DJ

     Eric took his first dance lesson when he was 10, when his mother needed a partner to practice two step dancing around the local community center. He began taking regular dance lessons in salsa and other related styles of latin dance in his early 20s. He took his first swing dance lesson at Humboldt State in 2014, before moving to Vermont in 2015. He first began teaching swing dance with Vermont Swings in 2016, and has continued to teach with them regularly since then in various styles, including Lindy Hop, Collegiate Shag, Charleston, and Balboa. Eric greatly enjoys teaching swing to both brand new and experienced dancers alike, and particularly enjoys sharing his love of Collegiate Shag. When traveling, he is sure to visit the local swing dance scene, and treasures the memories he's made connecting with people around the world through swing dancing. 

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  • Jean Elizabeth Shockley
    Instructor / DJ / Communications Coordinator

    Jean Elizabeth started social/partner dancing in 1995 in Philadelphia. She has served on the board of the Philadelphia Swing Dance Society and the Connecticut Swing Dance Society and has been a member of the Vermont Swings board since 2013. Serving as an instructor, DJ, and dance coordinator for Vermont Swings, Jean Elizabeth also teaches East Coast Swing, Texas Two Step, Waltz, and Latin dancing. She works with bands (Starline Rhythm Boys; Big Hat, No Cattle; and Girl Howdy) at public and private gigs to get the dancing started with preshow lessons. Jean Elizabeth is known for her unique dance style and sense of rhythm and musicality, enjoying the chance to be a catalyst for dancing wherever music can be found.

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  • Lisa Pompeii
    Instrutor/DJ

    Lisa spent many of her early years dancing informally whenever she had the chance. She was always inspired by watching other dancers in movies and on stage, especially high energy swing dancing and wanted very much to get thrown in to the air! Upon moving to Vermont, Lisa began taking lessons at Vermont Swings in 2016, and quickly became a regular at classes and dances, and soon began performing with Just for Kicks, adding choreography for the dance troupe to her repertoire. Always a fan of big band, Lisa loves how dance gives you something to do with the music that you love other than just listen. She is amazed that you can swing dance anywhere in the world and people share that common language. Her favorite dances are East Coast Swing, Lindy Hop, Charleston and Collegiate Shag, and if there were more hours in the day, there would be more dances to enjoy.  When she’s not dancing, she‘s raising her 2 daughters and works as a nurse. Lisa hopes to inspire others that admire dance to come join this wonderful community. It’s well worth the time and effort to do something healthy for mind and body and make some fabulous friends!

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  • Luc Cohen-Wanis
    Instructor / DJ

    A Southern California native, Luc learned to dance in middle school. Since then, he's performed and competed all over the West Coast and has social danced at many Lindy Hop exchanges and weekend events. Luc has been teaching classes and private lessons in Vermont since Spring 2021 and enjoys sharing his passion for Lindy Hop with anyone eager to learn.

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