A group of 25 teenage students sits patiently on the floor of a multipurpose room at Burgmann Anglican School, listening intently as creative director Jamie Winbank critiques the four-minute dance piece they've just performed.

"I know there are so many non-dancers in the performance - but you know what? I couldn't tell," Winbank says.

"So a huge congratulations to your choreographers.

"It's a fantastic piece of work but I do just have a few very small suggestions."

Winbank has spent the past three weeks travelling between private and public high schools across the ACT (and into NSW) as the creative director of Ausdance ACT's annual Youth Dance Festival - affectionately known as "Dance Fest".

His role is to provide creative input and tips on safe dance practice to the literally hundreds of high school students participating in Dance Fest 2017, set to hit the stage of Canberra Theatre for three nights this week.

The theme of this year's Dance Fest is Right Here, Right Now and 39 high schools - including Gold Creek School, Goulburn High School and Mount Stromlo College - have signed up to the festival to provide their own interpretation of that theme.

For some, the theme inspires messages around bullying; for others, it's the urgency around climate change.

For the the students of Burgmann Anglican School, it evokes a message around identity, and how to stay true to yourself in a world that "just wants you to conform".

Year 12 students Alex Blazevski and Georgie Leayr have helped choreograph Burgmann's performance, describing the process as an "awesome creative relief" from the stresses of everyday school life.

"I've been doing Dance Fest since Year 7 and the good thing is when you break it down to its bare foundations, the whole festival is driven from fun," Blazevski, 17, says.

"Essentially you just go in and you're enjoying what you're doing, you're having fun and dancing and you're with your friends which is a huge thing because you're more confident and you perform even better.

"When I started Dance Fest, I didn't dance - I didn't even know how to dance - and it's really good because I went on to do breakdance and hip-hop classes, so it encourages kids to dance outside of school.

"And Dance Fest gives you a realistic taste of what it's going to be like, especially wth the performances and the rehearsals and the commitment you need, in an actual dancing scenario."

Fellow Burgmann student Leayr, 18, says she wants the school's performance to help students understand "they're not alone".

"We want other students to know there's a lot of people struggling to find their own sense of self, that they're not the only people that it's happening to," she says.

"And also that it's not going to be easy to find your individuality - it's going to be a struggle, but it is possible to do it, you just need to make sure you can fight through the adversity."

Creative director Winbank says the beauty of Dance Fest lies in the fact it unites students from Years 7 to 12 around a specific creative challenge.

"The best thing about Dance Fest is that it's the most inclusive festival of dance - I'm going to claim it - in Australia," Winbank says.

"It's an opportunity for people to step out of their comfort zone, to be brave, to be bold.

"The creativity, analysis and discussion within the process of creating the work is just as important as the performance itself – for me it empowers young people to engage more deeply with the world, to think about things differently and to further think about how the arts, and dance in particular, can be a vital medium or self expression.

"The best thing about my role is seeing and visiting every school in the rehearsal process, then watching them grow into incredible performances across the three nights."

Ausdance ACT's Youth Dance Festival started in Canberra as a project for the International Year of Youth in 1985.

The original festival featured 20 high schools and colleges, including Campbell High School, who still performs in the festival today. In 1986, the festival had its first creative theme to inspire the students' choreography. The first theme was Peace, to align with the International Year of Peace, and themes since have included Live it, Love it, Move it (1997) and Be Loud. Be Heard (2016).

Some of Canberra's most prolific dance and acting talent once appeared on stage in Dance Fest, including Pia Miranda (from Looking for Alibrandi fame), Sibylla Budd (The Secret Life of Us), Paul Zivkovich (ex-Australian Dance Theatre, now working for Punchdrunk Theatre NYC) and Annabel Bronner-Reid (currently performing with The Australian Ballet).

Past creative directors have included Trish Brown, Jackie Hallahan, Cadi McCarthy and Adelina Larsson.

"Dance Fest is definitely an institution in Canberra," Winbank says.

"Literally thousands of Canberrans still remember their time as a dance festival participant or choreographer.

"But it's certainly changed over the years and really evolved in response to the young people leading it.

"There's been a change in what's topical and conceptual, what's weighing on the mind of the students.

"And I've noticed a change in genre of movement style, which is reflective of how music and dance styles have changed over time."

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