Inspiring Change through Collaboration:

Since 2007, North Karelia College Outokumpu in Finland, and Cultural College of Petrozavodsk in Russia have collaborated in various educational and artistic exchanges. In 2012, a project called Dancing Whirlpool was launched. In addition to a teacher’s exchange, a joint full-length piece was created together with four choreographer-teachers and nearly thirty students from Outokumpu and Petrozavodsk. The piece toured in Russian and Finnish Karelia. This article reflects on the role of collaboration in multicultural projects, through the lens of the experiences of Dancing Whirlpool. Why is collaboration important for dance students? Can multicultural collaboration invoke real change in our cultures?