Over 100 dance events in one action packed week.

The oldest and most extensive Nordic Dance festival, Kuopio Dance Festival, opens a new window onto the world of international dance. The programme includes fresh pieces, Nordic premieres, classics revisited and current themes on everyday life, communality, and the great issues facing the mankind. During the festival week there will be more than one hundred different dance events, performances, Q and A sessions, courses, club nights, and cruises.

This year’s undisputed highlight will be a visit from the Ballet du Grand Théâtre de Genève. The company will bring to Kuopio works by three of the most sought after choreographers of our time, Saburo Teshigawara, Andonis Foniadakis and Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui.

The Festival opens with a themed evening – From Sevilla to Lapland. The evening features a Spanish flamenco artiste Belén Maya and a contemporary folk dance theatre from Finnish Lapland called Rimpparemmi...

Israeli Kibbutz Contemporary Dance Company’s piece Ekodoom grapples with current issues. Communality is also the topic of the Finnish premiere of the year, Eeva Muilu’s Jossain on jotain (Finland). The stage will be occupied by elderly people and one young dance artiste.

The winner of the choreography competition Nordic Grand Prix 2007, Alan Lucien Øyen (Norway), searches for beauty in the mundane through humorous sentimentality in his work What's not to love.

Nordic collaboration has produced Petri Kekoni’s choreography Glow of Dimness (Finland).

An Ivory Coast atmosphere will be brought to the Festival by Compagnie Georges Momboye (France/Ivory Coast), with their piece Boyakodah – an ode to life! This French company, made up of African dancers, has performed at Lyon Biennale and at Sadler's Wells in London, amongst other venues.

The classic works Huuto and Petrushka by the Festival’s Artistic Director Jorma Uotinen (Finland) return to stage refreshed after many years. The children’s dance house programme features Simo Heiskanen’s choreography Parrots, performed by Glims & Gloms Dance Company, and Kuopio Music and Dance Academy’s Aika Öykkäri (Finland).

Hundreds of dance professionals, enthusiasts and beginners flock in to dozens of popular dance courses as well as festival clubs, Market Square programme, Paikallisliike and other festival events.

For the full programme details click here. 

Short breaks throughout December at cosy Hotel YlläsHumina.

For those wishing to visit Lapland but wanting greater independence we strongly recommend our Exclusive Arctic breaks to Finnish Lapland in December 2008. Direct flights from Gatwick throughout December 2008 including Christmas and New Year make visiting this winter paradise a breeze.

Hotel YlläsHumina is a friendly family run hotel in western Finnish Lapland at the foot of Ylläs Fell in the village of Äkäslompolo. It is the ideal base for winter activities. If it is skiing that you are looking for, downhill and cross country, the ski centre of Ylläs is just 5km away and cross country ski trails run through the village. Alternatively you can choose from an exhilarating range of husky, reindeer and snowmobile safaris from the village.

You are guaranteed a warm welcome to this hotel. At its heart is the reception building also home to a popular restaurant and the Humina pub where you can relax in front of an open fire. Its cosy accommodation is located in individual rustic log houses each of which has four comfortable hotel rooms.

Holiday dates: 12-15 Dec / 15-19 Dec / 19-23 Dec / 23-28 Dec / 28 Dec - 02 Jan 2009.

For full details of the holidays click here.

To download the information click here.

Snowmobiling Lappish summer style!

In the far north of Finnish Lapland in the small town of Ivalo the locals obviously just couldn’t survive a whole summer without their beloved snowmobiles so they came up with a unique and crazy annual event……The Water Cross Races.

As the snow has long melted the competitors decided to race their snowmobiles across the Ivalo

River that flows through the town. The event attracts competitors and spectators from all over Lapland.

For details of visiting the nearby resort of Saariselkä throughout the year click here. 

Turn back the clock to 1413………..

Over 4 days straight after Midsummer the heart of the town of Turku in southern Finland will turn back the clocks to the Middle Ages. The Medieval Fair will be made up of a market selling traditional crafts, activities such as jousting, knights showing their combat skills and demonstrations of traditional trades.

Jesters and musicians will be mingling with the crowds and each day in the market over a hundred actors will perform a play among the crowds.

To learn more about the event click here.

Under the Midnight Sun of Finnish Lapland.

This crazy and unique tournament takes place in Tornio, on the border between Finnish and Swedish Lapland from 25-28 June 2008. Making the most of the famous never ending summer days of Lapland the event is played around the clock.  Another anomaly of the unique setting is that during each round players will be crossing times zones and the border!

The teams are made up of six players, each of whom has to play 90 holes during the event. The tournament is not for the faint hearted but is starting to attract the attention of golfers across the world.

For further details contact Green Zone Golf Course

tuula.nyholm@telia.com

Image by Pekka Pura.

A hands on exhibition the science of speed and Formula One racing.

This is a fun and exciting exhibition for all age groups at the Heureka Science centre in Vantaa near Helsinki, Finland. It investigates all aspects of Formula One car racing: the physics, engineering, human endurance and biology in an entertaining and interactive way.

Visitors can race in simulators, explore the design of a full size replica Formula One car and practise wheel changes at a Pit stop. In the Fitness testing area visitors can test their reaction times, memory, heart’s performance and peripheral vision.  In the Workshop exhibits focus on areas such as: Build an Engine, Gear Change, Collisions and What’s the Diff?

Exhibition closes 15 March 2009.

To visit Helsinki click here.

For full details of the exhibition click here.

It could only happen in Finland!

During the summer the Finns just love their crazy events such as Wife carrying, Mobile Phone throwing, sauna competitions. This latest event, Old Geezer Carting, takes place in Ruokolahti in the beautiful region of Finnish Southern Karelia.

The emphasis is definitely on fun and good sportsmanship. The object of the event is to push a traditional milk kart over a 200m sand and gravel course in the fastest time.

The competing pairs must be made up of a pusher (a woman or affectionately known as the Old Lady) and carter / passenger (a man, referred to as the geezer). You Geezer can be your own or on loan for the event!

There are several events depending on age, individuals and teams taking place throughout the day. There is also an event this year to for Souped up carts (sadly that doesn’t involve adding an engine) so the crowd can vote for best dressed cart.

The event takes place on 26 July 2008 and you have until 20 June 2008 to get your entry form in.  

For further details click here.