Finnish acrobats Lotta & Stina celebrate 25 years of rolla bolla at Montreal Cirque fest

Lotta Paavilainen and Stina Kopra have been performing together for a quarter-century—the only female rolla bolla duo in the world, as far as they know. Rolla bolla (or American roller) is a circus discipline where performers balance and perform on a small plank placed on a rolling cylinder, and these two Finnish artists have built their entire partnership around it since they officially united their forces professionally in 2001.

Their meeting was almost accidental. Kopra's original partner dropped out just before a performance, so she asked Paavilainen, an accomplished acrobat, to fill in. What began as a last-minute replacement became a lifelong collaboration. "I think it's in part because we've always been a duo that looks a little different from others," Kopra said. Traditional circus tandems usually pair a sturdy porter with a tiny voltigeur—bodies built very differently. "We're about the same size, even though Lotta is slightly taller than me. We've never matched the traditional tandem format. That injects an element of comedy right away into our performances. We just embraced it."

Dramaturgy and theatre became central to their work. "I think we're drawn to theatre because it holds so many possibilities for reaching people," Kopra said. "When you combine it with something as physical as the circus, you can deliver something really unique and very powerful."

Their new production, 20 Years Later, Still Here!, presented at Festival Montréal Complètement Cirque, dissects their career—the highs and the lows of their partnership. "I think anyone who's faced difficulties or obstacles in chasing a dream can find themselves in it," Paavilainen said. "The context for us is the circus, but it can resonate with anyone who's had to fight to reach a goal."