Suttuma is a folk band from Karelia, an area that was once part

of Finland.

LEWISTON – Seven local youngsters, ages 9 to 12, partnered with an equal number of Bates College students at the college’s dance studio earlier this week as part of a cross-cultural learning experience.

Saturday evening at Bates’ Olin Arts Center, they will join the Russian musical ensemble Sattuma on stage at the end of the band’s concert performance to demonstrate their newly honed dancing skills via a spirited rendition of the Russian dance “Troika,” as well as a classic French Canadian contra dance.

The multi-faceted event was conceived of and coordinated by the Friends of the Lewiston Public Library as a kind of preview to the type of collaborative community programming that the library hopes to engender and support once its new cultural learning center is up and running.

Sattuma is touring New England under the auspices of Project Harmony, a Vermont based organization that facilitates cross-cultural experiential learning, and the band’s Bates appearance is co-sponsored by the Bates International Club and the college’s Russian Program, with grant assistance from the National Endowment for the Humanities.

The preparatory folk dance workshop was jointly sponsored by the local Franco cultural organizations La Survivance Francaise and the Association Canado-Americain, Chap. 52.

Bates Russian professor Jane Costlow says that she is “truly delighted” to have been able to help bring the folk quartet to Bates to share with the community at large.

Sattuma is from Karelia, a region of Russia that was once part of Finland and that retains a strong Finnish heritage, and the members of the band have expressed a sense of kinship with Maine’s Franco-Americans for their efforts to preserve and revitalize their own unique cultural traditions.

“Sattuma’s repertoire includes many wonderful dance tunes, inspiring our ‘Troika’ demonstration,” says Costlow, “and then we thought it only appropriate to, in the spirit of cultural exchange, share a bit of our own North American folk heritage in the form of some French Canadian dancing.”

Several members of the Bates International Club are among the dance demo group, including students from Japan, China, the Czech Republic and Russia. The local youngsters joining them range from aspiring ballet dancers to a budding folk fiddler to those simply excited about sampling a new culture.

Sattuma’s concert Saturday at the Olin Concert Hall begins at 7 p.m. Tickets remain available for the event, at a cost of $5, or $3 for children, students and senior citizens. Advance reservations can be made by calling 782-0386. The Olin Arts Center is on Russell Street.