Luna Dance & Creativity
Luna Dance & Creativity, 931 Ashby Ave, Berkeley, CA 94710
About
Luna Dance & Creativity offers dance and choreography experiences for children and families, including family dance and parent-child classes. The program also connects with teachers and artists through Dance in Early Childhood teacher workshops, a Summer Institute, monthly Practitioner Exchanges, the Teacher as Creative Practitioner Scholar series, and other Professional Learning workshops, Institutes, and Communities of Practice.
• Schedule: Open Monday–Friday with daytime hours and Saturday morning hours
Luna Dance & Creativity’s mission is to bring creativity, equity and community to every child’s life through the art of dance. Luna Dance & Creativity is a nationally recognized dance education organization that has been in business for 33 years. Luna hires dance teaching artists as salaried employees with benefits.
Luna was founded in Oakland, California, on International Women’s Day, March 8, 1992, originally as Luna Kids Dance and later known as Luna Dance Institute. Its work in schools began in 2003 in partnership with Oakland Unified School District, where it built comprehensive programs at New Highland Academy, Tilden Elementary, and Grass Valley Elementary and co-authored the district’s Blueprint for Dance Learning K–12 (2009). Summer Institute launched in 2001, monthly Practitioner Exchanges have been offered since 2010, and the Teacher as Creative Practitioner Scholar series began in 2020 to create a space for teaching artists to engage in graduate-level study. Since purchasing and renovating its Berkeley home in 2022, Studio Lab has expanded to serve artists.
Studio Lab-Kids is described as the only choreography-centered children’s dance program in California. Studio Lab-Artists provides rehearsal space and piloting residency programs, and Studio Lab-Community offers public education by showcasing artistic research and scholarship in ways that challenge the limitations of academia. Programs bring dance to more than 30,000 children and 400 artists, teachers, and social service providers each year. Inclusion of children with and without disabilities is a key component of Luna’s model school programs.
Luna’s MPACT (Moving Parents and Children Together) program brings parent-child classes to families in the child welfare system and supports bonding within families in the process of reunification. The Professional Learning department supports those who teach, including dancers, teaching artists, and classroom teachers. Luna works with allies to champion systemic change in arts, education, and social justice through a practice-to-policy approach.
Luna has early learning partners including Head Start and Early Head Start programs in multiple communities, Berkeley and Oakland public school early learning sites, and collaborations with organizations such as San Francisco Ballet to bring dance to multiple early childhood education sites in San Francisco Unified School District. It has served locally on arts education task force groups and on committees and on the board of state and local arts organizations like California Dance Education Association, National Dance Education Organization, and National Guild for Community Arts Education. Family Dance programs have been integrated into cultural organizations in Orange and Los Angeles counties. Luna provides support and solidarity to those who teach children, including parents, teachers, social service providers, dancers, and artists.
Luna Dance & Creativity was instrumental in the adopting of the California Theater and Dance credential, the California Standards for Dance, and the California Preschool Learning Foundations. Executive Director of Creativity & Pedagogy Patricia Reedy founded Luna in 1992 and is responsible for designing and evaluating all program components, writing curricula, developing teaching artists, leading collaborative inquiry, and providing consultation and leadership support to community clients. She has been a dancer, choreographer, educator, and performer throughout her life, was on the dance faculty at UC Berkeley for five years, and later joined the dance department at Mills College as an adjunct professor.
Shared comments from participants include a teen describing dance as an escape and saying, “When I dance, I feel like I matter,” and a student saying, “We have dance class? This is the best day of my life!” A teacher credits a summer with Luna for confidence in incorporating movement into distance teaching, and another teacher describes the Practitioner Exchanges as “an encouraging flame” and “a fresh spark during this strange time in history.” Parents describe the importance of comfort with the body and awareness in young children and note changes in their child’s ability to take feedback and prompts. Students also describe how much they love to move, even when others are sitting.
Last updated March 20, 2026.
• Schedule: Open Monday–Friday with daytime hours and Saturday morning hours
Luna Dance & Creativity’s mission is to bring creativity, equity and community to every child’s life through the art of dance. Luna Dance & Creativity is a nationally recognized dance education organization that has been in business for 33 years. Luna hires dance teaching artists as salaried employees with benefits.
Luna was founded in Oakland, California, on International Women’s Day, March 8, 1992, originally as Luna Kids Dance and later known as Luna Dance Institute. Its work in schools began in 2003 in partnership with Oakland Unified School District, where it built comprehensive programs at New Highland Academy, Tilden Elementary, and Grass Valley Elementary and co-authored the district’s Blueprint for Dance Learning K–12 (2009). Summer Institute launched in 2001, monthly Practitioner Exchanges have been offered since 2010, and the Teacher as Creative Practitioner Scholar series began in 2020 to create a space for teaching artists to engage in graduate-level study. Since purchasing and renovating its Berkeley home in 2022, Studio Lab has expanded to serve artists.
Studio Lab-Kids is described as the only choreography-centered children’s dance program in California. Studio Lab-Artists provides rehearsal space and piloting residency programs, and Studio Lab-Community offers public education by showcasing artistic research and scholarship in ways that challenge the limitations of academia. Programs bring dance to more than 30,000 children and 400 artists, teachers, and social service providers each year. Inclusion of children with and without disabilities is a key component of Luna’s model school programs.
Luna’s MPACT (Moving Parents and Children Together) program brings parent-child classes to families in the child welfare system and supports bonding within families in the process of reunification. The Professional Learning department supports those who teach, including dancers, teaching artists, and classroom teachers. Luna works with allies to champion systemic change in arts, education, and social justice through a practice-to-policy approach.
Luna has early learning partners including Head Start and Early Head Start programs in multiple communities, Berkeley and Oakland public school early learning sites, and collaborations with organizations such as San Francisco Ballet to bring dance to multiple early childhood education sites in San Francisco Unified School District. It has served locally on arts education task force groups and on committees and on the board of state and local arts organizations like California Dance Education Association, National Dance Education Organization, and National Guild for Community Arts Education. Family Dance programs have been integrated into cultural organizations in Orange and Los Angeles counties. Luna provides support and solidarity to those who teach children, including parents, teachers, social service providers, dancers, and artists.
Luna Dance & Creativity was instrumental in the adopting of the California Theater and Dance credential, the California Standards for Dance, and the California Preschool Learning Foundations. Executive Director of Creativity & Pedagogy Patricia Reedy founded Luna in 1992 and is responsible for designing and evaluating all program components, writing curricula, developing teaching artists, leading collaborative inquiry, and providing consultation and leadership support to community clients. She has been a dancer, choreographer, educator, and performer throughout her life, was on the dance faculty at UC Berkeley for five years, and later joined the dance department at Mills College as an adjunct professor.
Shared comments from participants include a teen describing dance as an escape and saying, “When I dance, I feel like I matter,” and a student saying, “We have dance class? This is the best day of my life!” A teacher credits a summer with Luna for confidence in incorporating movement into distance teaching, and another teacher describes the Practitioner Exchanges as “an encouraging flame” and “a fresh spark during this strange time in history.” Parents describe the importance of comfort with the body and awareness in young children and note changes in their child’s ability to take feedback and prompts. Students also describe how much they love to move, even when others are sitting.
Last updated March 20, 2026.
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