QUANTUM Leap Ensemble’s latest dance work, at The Playhouse later in May, is  looking at revolution.

In the opening section there will be music from Earth, Wind & Fire, The Doobie Brothers, David Bowie, Led Zeppelin, The Monkeys and Sam & Dave, since the rock ‘n’ roll part of the equation is revolutionary in nature.

Artistic director of QL2 Dance, Ruth Osborne, and her collaborator, Steve Gow, believe that change and revolution are still of intrinsic interest to young people, no less now than back in the revolutionary years from 1966 to 1970. 

They’ve put together a dance piece, “REBEL: Then.Now.When?” looking at how culture and collective action can stimulate change.

Inspired by the Melbourne Museum’s 2019 “Revolutions: Records and Rebels” brought in from the Victoria and Albert Museum, their original plan had been to do the show last year, but as this was “an important one”, they carried it over.

“Those years were known for their activism and the monumental changes that were needed in society,” Osborne tells me. 

“I felt it was time we looked at their historical basis and then jumped to the here and now to look at activism today.”

It proved the perfect subject for choreography and the result is a seamless whole, without an interval, although staged in three sections.

The opening part  – that’s the “Then” –  includes archival footage put together by Canberra’s Wild Bear Productions and a fabulous soundscape that Osborne predicts will have audience members “moving a bit in their seats as we bring them back to that era”.

Music plays a big part in it and partly because of that, Osborne admits the first part has been “total fun”, likewise the recreation of wildly colourful fashions from the era. But, she emphasises, checking the points off, “there were much deeper and more important issues that dealt with what motivated young people, like the Vietnam War, Women’s Lib, gay and civil rights – they’re the main ones”.

After that, she says, they jump to the “Now”, exploring where young people feel they are now and what they need to consider.

This section is choreographed by Jack Ziesing, and captures the feeling of what it’s like to be in a protest march and how to write a different story.

“But it’s not just black and white,” Osborne says. 

“These are not rebels without a cause – Jimmy Dean came a bit before the era they’re thinking about – but the question is, are you going to stand up?”

The third part, the “When?” is choreographed by Quantum Leap regular, Jodie Farrugia, who looks at the idea of leadership, the powers that hold us back from an equitable society and the recent national conversations about gender inequality.

In parts two and three, the original music is by long-time collaborator Adam Ventura who, Osborne observes, “really understands how to collaborate with choreographers and has created a wonderful score”. 

In these parts, the choreographers are playing with the Playhouse’s physical structure itself, so the dancers will have some quick changes to do to get into more sober, present-day costumes.

Looking back on the project, Osborne says she’s been inspired by Greta Thunberg and Black Lives Matter. Activism, she believes, went to sleep in the ’70s, but the 21st century has given young people cause to come out again in full force.

“We’ve been having a fantastic time, a very juicy time,” Osborne says.

“REBEL: Then.Now.When?”, Quantum Leap Ensemble at The Playhouse, May 20-22. Book here or 6275 2700.