Yellowknife (Nov 26/04) - Just after Dana Luebke and Robert Greenwood of Sun Ergos theatre and dance company last performed in Yellowknife, they embarked on a decade of performances, through which they would forge a connection with an independent Croatia.

That connection recently culminated in the duo from Priddis, Alta., receiving the former Yugoslav republic's highest honour: the order of Croatia. They are the first foreigners to receive the honour.

After performing their show Twinings here back in 1991, they were invited to perform in what was then Yugoslavia.

It would be the first of eight visits to Croatia.

"We performed the same show we had done in Yellowknife in Yugoslavia," said Greenwood.

"The day after the opening, Croatia declared independence," said Luebke. "So our next show was performed in Croatia."

Two days after that, the war started.

Sun Ergos was invited back to Croatia later that year to perform A Christmas Gift, the show they will present tonight and tomorrow at NACC.

The show is a multicultural look at Christmas, involving theatre, dance and storytelling.

"We want to celebrate the differences as much as possible," said Greenwood. "Our mandate is to break down prejudice."

"Our name, Sun Ergos, means working together," said Luebke.

In 1991, festival organizers in Croatia asked specifically for A Christmas Gift because, for the first time after decades of atheist Soviet rule, Catholic Croatians could openly celebrate the holiday.

But when the festival's opening ceremony was bombed and people were killed, the organizers contacted the pair to ask if they still wanted to come.

"We had three questions," said Luebke. "Can we get there? Will we be a burden? And will we be of use?"

The organizers answers were yes, absolutely not and we love you. Sun Ergos couldn't bring all the costumes and props they needed to do A Christmas Gift.

So they packed two suitcases and made their way back to Croatia, where they performed two of their simpler shows in bomb shelters.

"It meant a lot to the people over there that we had come," said Luebke.

"So much of the world turned away when the war started."

Their presence in the war zone also had a more concrete impact. The invading Serbs were close enough to shell the town they were in, but thought Sun Ergos was a troupe of child performers.

They contacted the Canadian Consulate to ask Sun Ergos to leave and stopped bombing the area for nine days, long enough for the UN to set up a buffer zone between the town and the Serbs.

On their return trips, Sun Ergos were reluctant to draw crowds to large publicized shows -- vulnerable to bomb attacks -- and instead travelled to their audience by moving around the country and performing secretly in places like schools.

"We were small moving targets," said Greenwood.

They never did perform A Christmas Gift in Croatia, but they now include a Croatian carol in the show.

"In the end, it's not the tangible gifts you give that matter," said Greenwood.