{"id":23721,"date":"2019-03-04T08:48:33","date_gmt":"2019-03-04T13:48:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/coatesvilletimes.com\/?p=23721"},"modified":"2019-03-04T08:48:37","modified_gmt":"2019-03-04T13:48:37","slug":"downingtowns-luebbers-wins-irish-dance-world-title-will-dance-with-celtic-fire","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/coatesvilletimes.com\/?p=23721","title":{"rendered":"Downingtown’s Luebbers wins Irish Dance world title, will dance with Celtic Fire"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"<\/a>

Owen Luebbers<\/p><\/div>\n

When Michael Londra and the Celtic Fire light up the stage at the Annenberg Center for the Performing Arts in Philadelphia on March 16, the singing sensation will have with him some world class talent, including Downingtown, PA, native, World Champion Irish dancer, and recently crowned 2019 All Ireland Irish Dancing Champion Owen Luebbers.<\/p>\n

\u201cOwen is a brilliant dancer, and he\u2019s absolutely the sweetest kid. I\u2019m thrilled to have him in the show. It\u2019ll be so nice to see him perform for a hometown audience and to show the locals how great he is,\u201d Londra said.<\/p>\n

The 20-year-old Luebbers, a third year Media Studies and Production major at Temple University, is thrilled to be performing at home, too. He expects his family to be in the audience, as well as some of his friends from Temple. \u201cI\u2019m so excited to be performing in Philadelphia because my friends seldom get the opportunity to see me dance on stage,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

He began touring with Londra in 2017. \u201cThat wasn\u2019t my first time dancing on stage, but it was the first time it felt real,\u201d he explained. \u201cI knew I wanted to do something with Irish dance for the rest of my life by the time I was 12 or 13. After that tour I remember thinking, \u2018Wow! I can do this forever.\u2019 There\u2019s just something so incredibly special about working with Michael and the incredible band and the other amazing dancers,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n

Luebbers continues to dance competitively as he prepares for Londra\u2019s tour. He talked about dance, his family, and his role in show while on his way to the 2019 All Ireland Irish Dancing Championship in Killarney, a title he won on February 23.<\/p>\n

\u201cDancing is when I feel most myself. When I\u2019m on stage, I\u2019m free,\u201d he said. \u201cI\u2019ve always been a creative person, so I knew I would want to pursue some kind of creative venture long-term. Irish dancing was the obvious choice because it was something I excelled at from a young age,\u201d He explained.<\/p>\n

To accommodate his dancing schedule as a boy, he was home schooled until age 14. In high school, he played soccer, ran cross country and track, performed in school musicals, and was in the choir and the band, all while dancing competitively on the international level. \u201cI wouldn\u2019t change any of it. I feel like I really got the best of both worlds,\u201d he noted. \u201cThe things I experienced and the places I had the opportunity to travel shaped me into the person I am today, and I\u2019m so grateful for that.\u201d<\/p>\n

He also grew up with two older siblings who are competitive Irish dancers and who, he said, are his biggest inspiration. His sister Cassidy won the North American Championship in 2017, and his brother Ian won the World Championship in Glasgow, Scotland, in 2018. \u201cThey\u2019re the hardest working, most driven people I know. I aspire to be like them,\u201d Luebbers said.<\/p>\n

On Londra\u2019s tour, in addition to Luebbers, Celtic Fire will include his sister Cassidy, World Champion Tadgh Spillane, and three-time World Champion Peter Dziak. Luebbers has experience performing with all of them. \u201cThey\u2019re all incredibly talented in so many different, unique ways. I feel like the people I tour with are part of my family, and I\u2019m honestly so excited to get back on stage with all of them,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

He also said that working with Michael Londra is a special experience, one that has contributed to his growth as a performer. \u201cMichael is genuinely the most caring, loveable person I have had the pleasure of working with. I\u2019ve learned so much being part of his tours over the past few years. He has such a special presence both on stage and off, and he\u2019s someone I really admire and look up to,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Londra is very proud of all of the dancers in his show. \u00a0\u201cThese are amazing young people who have dedicated their lives to their craft. They\u2019re the best for a reason. They bring to the show not just amazing talent but also a tremendous work ethic and a great attitude,\u201d he said. \u201cThey\u2019re genuinely good people, and working with them is a pleasure. Honestly, I love watching them dance. They entertain me as much as they entertain the audience.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

When Michael Londra and the Celtic Fire light up the stage at the Annenberg Center for the Performing Arts in Philadelphia on March 16, the singing sensation will have with him some world class talent, including Downingtown, PA, native, World Champion Irish dancer, and recently crowned 2019 All Ireland Irish Dancing Champion Owen Luebbers. \u201cOwen […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":23723,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[98,8662,8661],"class_list":["post-23721","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-community","tag-downingtown","tag-irish-dance","tag-owen-luebbers"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/coatesvilletimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23721","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/coatesvilletimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/coatesvilletimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/coatesvilletimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/coatesvilletimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=23721"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/coatesvilletimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23721\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":23722,"href":"https:\/\/coatesvilletimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23721\/revisions\/23722"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/coatesvilletimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/23723"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/coatesvilletimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=23721"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/coatesvilletimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=23721"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/coatesvilletimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=23721"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}