Celebrating its 40th anniversary with the theme of  What do You Dream, Ausdance ACT is staging one of its biggest Youth Dance Festivals, featuring live dance made by secondary schools from all over Canberra and its immediate regions.

With more than 50,000 students treading the board since 1984, this is proudly NOT a competition and the young directors and choreographers are given free rein to explore any themes they like.

As well, this year’s shows will feature videos of former festivals projected on to the cyclorama.

“We want you to wear as much sparkle as possible,” creative director Cathy Adamek was heard advising young hoofers on stage at the Canberra Theatre for a technical rehearsal.

“We need you to be quiet because you have to perform in front of 1000 people,” she added, “and you need to move like superstars, because you are.”

Bringing the past into the present, three festival alumni, KG from Passion & Purpose, Caroline “Leena” Wall from Fresh Funk and Francis Owusu from Kulture Break, all now choreographers, mentors and teachers, have joined to make an opening piece to be performed each night.

After the rehearsal I caught up with King KG – his real name is Kagiso, meaning peace.

He was never supposed to be a dancer, rather at St Edmunds College he was a budding basketball star until injury got the better of him.

Under the advice of his dance teacher at the school, Amar Amarfio, himself a former alumnus of the dance festival, who taught him contemporary, jazz and hip-hop dance. He performed in the dance festival in 2002, later returning as an adult choreographer in 2010.

“I was destined to be a dancer so I formed my own business, the Passion & Purpose Academy, teaching Afro street dance styles to all races and genders.”

It’s the most multicultural dance school in Canberra he believes and not long ago they went to France to showcase their work.

As for the process where he, Wall and Owusu worked together, they actually choreographed their own pieces separately then blended them, but all are unified in breaking stereotypes of what dance looks like and in believing that it’s always all about the students.

And King KG’s life? “It’s the best thing – there’s never a boring day.”

Canberra Theatre nightly until November 8.