This project was born out of a common passion for using dance and movement as a tool to work with young people which was identified during a Partnership Building Activity: “Building a Network of European Youth Trainers” in Ireland. After our Finnish partner shared a video about dancing in the streets, we decided as a group that this would make a great theme for an exchange. While working on the project more people got involved and the group grew into the 4 partners that we now have. All partners know each other, and each group is supported by people with international experience, each partner works with young people, the UK group only with dance, the other groups more general youth work, but all have many young people interested in dance and movement. All partners have a core group of young people involved already. This project seeks to meet the need to allow young people to find out who they are and how they fit in society. It was felt that through the overuse of technology many young people have lost the connection between themselves and their bodies and as youth workers and young leaders, we have seen how this has negatively impacted on young people’s body image and self esteem. In addition, it was felt that many young people are at loss at where life will bring them, the economic crisis has had many negative impacts on the possibilities and opportunities of young people. It is therefore, that we place huge importance on the young people taking ownership of this project. Many vital skills which can be transferred to the workplace will be gained, we feel that often these skills aren’t being taught during school hours. The Aim of the project: To explore and gain a greater understanding of ‘identity’ and ‘self’ through cultural collaboration in dance and movement. Objectives: Explore and share how we understand who we are, along with the influences that shape our identity Experience and understand cultural differences and similarities through dance Gain a greater understanding of the importance of movement in the modern world and the messages these relay Explore the importance of dance and movement as a tool for communication Experience taking responsibility, leadership and autonomy through the planning, implementation and evaluation of the youth exchange Explore how to use dance and movement for influencing social change and promote tolerance To improve in self confidence through better understanding movement and how we physically present ourselves Partners are from: Finland, Netherlands, UK and Ireland. Each partner except Ireland will send 5 young people and two youth leaders - one of these youth leaders will be specialised in dance. Ireland will send 8 young people, 2 youth leaders and 2 support staff. One of the irish participants will be in charge of documenting the exchange through video and blogging. The profile of the participants will be truly mixed. The Finnish and the Irish group come from a very rural area, with no or very few facilities. The groups from the Netherlands and the UK will come from small cities, but some of them will have either learning disabilities, or come from a very disadvantaged social, economic, or educational background. The programme will be incorporating non-formal workshops, discussions, individual work, movement and dance, peer reflection and support, with a final performance in the streets of Galway city. The programme will be intense, with many workshops. The workshops will be movement/dance based, but we will imbed and incorporate non-formal aspects. The movement will be used as a method to explore who we are, how we deal with things (life) and how we express ourselves.