Dana Luebke
Founder; Vice-President of the Board of Directors: SUN.ERGOS, A COMPANY OF THEATRE AND DANCE, 1977 – 1985;
Director of the Board, 1985 to 2008; Ex-Officio 2008 to present; Artistic and Choreographic Director, 1978 to present; Dancer,
Actor, Choreographer, Designer, Teacher, 1977 to present; Licensed Brain Gym® Instructor/Consultant, 1989 to
present
Well-versed in modern, ballet and contemporary dance, Dana has performed over 200 roles, creating the
original, principal roles in 80 major dances in over forty-five years as an artist. Beginning his career with
the Minnesota Dance Theatre in Minneapolis, he has since danced in New York City with Sara Sugihara
and the Family, in Canada and the United States with the Royal Winnipeg Ballet and was Guest Artist with
the Washington Ballet.
He studied in Italy, France, England, Scotland, the United States and at the Banff School of Fine Arts in
Canada as well as teaching both adults and children at the community, college and university levels. The
recipient of two Gulbenkian Fellowships in Dance, he has studied at the Laban Centre in London and the
International Course for Professional Choreographers and Composers in Surrey.
He has worked with Murray Louis, Nina Weiner and Glen Tetley in choreography and Gisela Reber in folk-
dance. He has done choreography on Balada Roumanian Folk Dance Ensemble, for the Alberta Games
Show, Theatre Calgary, The Royal Scottish Country Dance Society and Menaka Thakkar. He is a regis-
tered Brain-Gym teacher and award winner for outstanding service to the Educational Kinesiology
Foundation for overseeing the translation of Brain Gym into Croatian. Dana was given Honorary
Citizenship in the Zupanija of Sibenik, Croatia, for his artistic and humanitarian work with refugees of the
Balkan Wars from 1991-1995, and most recently received the Classic Lake Conference Award in Fine Arts
in Minneapolis, Minnesota, for his artistic and humanitarian work.
At present, he teaches Brain Gym® to the pre-School children in the community of Priddis, Alberta, from September
through June of each year, and has done so since 2001. He teaches Brain-Body Fitness and Brain Gym® for Families
at the Sheep River Library in Turner Valley, Alberta, workshops in Brain Gym® for Pre-School Teachers and Parents and
Switched-On Learning for Teachers and Parents in Calgary, Alberta.
His training in Brain Gym®, Specialized Kinesiology and Movement Literacy includes:
Edu-K in Depth; Vision Circles; Creative Vision; Total-Core Repatterning; Movement Exploration; Integration of Birth and
Change; Integrations of Dynamic and Postural Reflexes.
Rhythmic Movement Training (Levels 1-3); Fear Paralysis Reflex; Facial Reflexes/Language and Bonding
Language of Dance Foundations, Part 1 and 2; Elementary Labanotation
He has taught at the following:
MINNESOTA DANCE THEATRE AND SCHOOL, Dance Teacher, 1970-72
SUN.ERGOS, A COMPANY OF THEATRE AND DANCE, Artistic and Choreographic Director, Dance Teacher,
Choreographer, Actor, Calgary, Alberta, local, provincial, national and international residencies, 1977 to present
UNIVERSITY OF CALGARY, Dance Programme, Calgary, Alberta, 1978/79
MOUNT ROYAL COLLEGE, Dance Programme, Calgary, Alberta, 1978/79
DUMFERMLINE COLLEGE OF PHYSICAL EDUCATION, Guest Artist/Instructor, Dance, Choreography, Residencies,
Edinburgh, Scotland, 1981, 1982, 1983
WORCESTER COLLEGE OF HIGHER EDUCATION, Guest Artist/Instructor, Choreography and Dance, Residencies,
Worcester, UK, 1981, 1982
BARKING COLLEGE, Guest Artist, Romford, UK, 1986UNITED WORLD COLLEGE OF S.E. ASIA, Guest Artist/Instructor, Dance, Brain-Gym®, Residencies, Singapore, 1988,
1989
AKKO FESTIVAL, Guest Artist, Akko, Israel, 1989
SLOVAK TELEVIZIA, Guest Artist/Instructor, Dance, Bratislava, Slovakia, 1991, 1992
TOI HAUS THEATRE FESTIVAL, Guest Artist/Instructor, Dance, Salzburg, Austria, 1994
RESIDENCIES, Artists-in-the-Schools Programmes, WESTERN CANADA, USA, UK, SINGAPORE, CROATIA, AUSTRIA,
SERBIA, SLOVAKIA, 1990 to present
He has received the following awards for his artistry, scholarship and humanity:
Scholarship, MINNESOTA DANCE THEATRE AND SCHOOL, Minneapolis, Minnesota, 1966 – 1970
Scholarship, MAGGIE BLACK, New York, New York, 1972
Scholarship, THE BANFF SCHOOL OF FINE ARTS, Banff, Alberta, 1975
Full Scholarship, SCHOOL OF THE ROYAL WINNIPEG BALLET, Professional Programme, 1975-76
GULBENKIAN FELLOWSHIPS [2], for study at the LABAN CENTRE FOR HUMAN MOVEMENT STUDIES, Goldsmith’s
College, London, UK, 1979; and THE INTERNATIONAL COURSE FOR CHOREOGRAPHERS AND DANCERS, for study
with Glen Tetley, Surrey, UK, 1979
CANADA COUNCIL, Study Grants for Banff Fine Arts Centre and Banff School of Management, 1970, 1982
DIPLOMA OF DISTINCTION [ FOR ONE-MAN SHOW OF JUST DANCE ], PILA, POLAND, 1991
DIPLOMA OF DISTINCTION [ FOR DUO SHOW OF LEGENDS ], PILA, POLAND, 1991
KEY TO THE CITY OF PRIMOSTEN, CROATIA, 1993
ART AWARD FROM THE MEDUNARODNI DJECJI FESTIVAL SIBENIK, 1993; Art Award from the Mayor and the
Director of the Medunarodni Djecji Festival Sibenik, 1993
ART AWARD from the Vice-Zupan, Zagreb, 1993
HONORARY CITIZENSHIP IN THE ZUPANIJA OF SIBENIK, Sibenik, Croatia, 1995
OUTSTANDING ACHIEVEMENT AWARD, Educational Kinesiology Foundation, Kauai, Hawaii, 2000 For facilitating the
translation of BRAIN GYM into Croatian
CLASSIC LAKE CONFERENCE ACHIEVEMENT AWARD IN THE ARTS, Minneapolis, Minnesota, 2001
REDOM DANICE HRVATSKE S LIKOM MARKA MARULICA, from President of Croatia, 2004
Dana is and has been involved in the following organizations:
Co-Founder, CALGARY COUNCIL FOR ALL ARTS ASSOCIATION [CCAA], 1987-1988; Secretary of the Board of Directors,
1987-1988
Board Member, CALGARY COUNCIL FOR THE PERFORMING ARTS, 1981-1983
Board Member, CALGARY DANCE MONTH, 1982-1984
Member, CANADIAN ACTORS’ EQUITY ASSOCIATION, 1975 –
Member, INTERNATIONAL MEDITATION SOCIETY, CANADA, 1975 –
Member, CALGARY PROFESSIONAL ARTS ALLIANCE, 1993 –
Member, WESTERN ARTS ALLIANCE, 1996 –
Member, ARTS NORTHWEST. 1997 –
Member, ARTS MIDWEST, 1997 –
Member, MONTANA ARTS CONSORTIUM, 1992 –
Member, PRESENTERS ARTS EXCHANGE, 1998 –
Participant,, CULTURAL RESOURCES MANAGEMENT PROGRAM, Banff Centre, 1982
Member, ALBERTA DANCE ALLIANCE, 1995 –
Member, ALBERTA TOURING ALLIANCE, 1995 –
Member, BC TOURING, 1997 –
Member, INTERNATIONAL PERFORMING ARTS FOR YOUNG PEOPLE, 1999 –
Board Director, PRIDDIS COMMUNITY ASSOCIATION, 1999 –
Member, PRIDDIS GREENS COMMUNITY ASSOCIATION, 1999 –
Member, WYOMING ARTS ALLIANCE, 1997 –
He has been and continues to be a cultural ambassador for the arts in urban and rural communities, hav-
ing represented Canada to 22 different countries on 5 continents, by performing, and by teaching and
mentoring thousands of children and adults celebrating the differences and recognizing the similarities
among peoples and cultures in order to promote the arts and breakdown prejudice.
“Dana Luebke dances…compelling movement images, strong yet sparse, stark in their simplicity, virile in their controlled energy…a beautiful intensity pervades his whole
performance.” Brian Cooper, THE STAGE AND TELEVISION TODAY London
Dancer, Licensed Brain Gym® Instructor/Consultant