Development of cross-border activities in dance and theatre

The aim of the project was to develop cooperation in the artistic fields of theatre and dance in the Republic of Karelia. The project intended to make the methods of dance trends known on both sides as well as strengthen the technical knowledge of the students of dance in the Outokumpu Vocational College, with the assistance of Russian specialists in classical dance. The intention was also to survey the state of new dance forms and to make the trends of new Finnish dance known in the Republic of Karelia. In the field of theatre, the plan was to implement a coproduction of the Joensuu City Theatre and the Petrozavodsk National Theatre, exchange of theatre productions and to strengthen the joint marketing of regional theatres.

The dance part of the project organised a dance workshop week in the Petrozavodsk Cultural Institute, where a dance teacher from the Outokumpu College taught modern dance to Russian dancers and a dance teacher from the Petrozavodsk Cultural Institute taught character dance to Finnish students. Also, dance artists from St Petersburg gave lessons to a mixed group of Finnish and Russian students. During the workshop week, Finnish dance students performed twice in the Petrozavodsk National Theatre. A documentary was made of the workshop week. Various different workshops were also organised in Finland, where Russian dance teachers from, among others, the Petrozavodsk Cultural Institute and Theatre of Dance gave lessons to Finnish professionals and recently graduated students of dance and theatre. Russian teachers also supervised some final dissertations of a few dance students. A significant result of the dance section were the new contacts made by the Outokumpu College and deeper cooperation with our eastern neighbour. With an easterly orientation, the College has been able to create an individual profile in Finland. In the theatre section, a children’s play called Koivuhiiri ja Päästäinen (The Birch Mouse and the Shrew) was directed as a theatrical cooperation production at both the Joensuu City Theatre and the Petrozavodsk National Theatre. Mr Timo Ventola from the Joensuu City Theatre directed Russian actors in the Petrozavodsk National Theatre, and a Russian director Ms Lidia Tolstova directed Finnish actors in Joensuu. The directors had access to similar staging equipment and texts, but the plays turned out to be very different from each other. In addition to director exchange, an international aspect and comparisons of ways of making theatre, the cooperation of the play brought training and working life closer together and offered the students opportunities to learn at work. The play also tried to make a difference to people’s attitudes with theatrical means: the play dealt with issues such as racism and tolerance. The project surveyed the technical details of the primary performance locations of North Karelia and the Republic of Karelia in “tour path survey” to facilitate cultural production exchange across the border. Performance locations were also tested in cooperative productions, thus increasing the marketing and publicity of the regional theatres. The theatre section also included the design work for the festival of Finnish theatre, implemented by the Union of Finnish Theatre Directors. The festival was organised in Petrozavodsk in May 2008.