Dean Cross joined youth dance ensemble Quantum Leap in 2000 for a reason other than love of dance.
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"I did it to meet girls, as a 14-year-old boy."
While Cross did get a couple of dates out of it, he also received something of more lasting benefit from his four years with Quantum Leap: a passion for dance.
That passion led him to further study and has taken him around Australia and internationally as a dancer and choreographer.
He was one of the alumno who came back to Canberra for Two Zero, a production of new, remounted and reworked dance pieces marking the 20th anniversary of QL Dance (Canberra)'s Quantum Leap project. It opened on Thursday night at the Playhouse, Canberra Theatre Centre.
Cross remounted the opening act of fellow Quantum Leap alumnus and current Bangarra Dance Theatre dancer-choreographer Daniel Riley's Where We Gather. Riley came during the final rehearsals to pass on the parts of the piece that came from his body.
"You can't learn that from a video," Cross said.
Quantum Leap's artistic director, Ruth Osborne, said some dancers had been with the company for five or 10 years and many ex-Quantum Leap participants went on to professional careers as dancers and choreographers while new ones kept coming into the company.
"It's a big continous wheel: that's what we wanted to celebrate, to recognise the unique talents the company has nurtured for 20 years."
Jett Chudleigh, 18, began doing classes with QL2 last year and joined Quantum Leap this year. Her background was in drama and musicals but having seen some dance and physical theatre last year, she decided to try something new.
"I started getting into the physical side of things. The only experience I had in high school performances was vocal and expression work ... I wanted to express feeling through movement and my body," she said.
Ruby Ballantyne, 18, has been a member of Quantum Leap since she was 13. She had studied ballet since was three while living in Newcastle but when she moved to Canberra she decided to try Quantum Leap.
"I still do a bit [of ballet] but now I'm much more involved in contemporary dance," she said.
Ballantyne said she had been in five productions and that every year had been different.
"I feel like I've learnt so much and developed my own style through working with so many people," she said.
"I like theatre in dance. This year I've been fortunate enough to be a part of the theatre piece in Two Zero, This Land is Calling.
"It's about moving to a new land. It does a take on colonial Australia and a take on refugees and where we came from and where we're going."
The piece, originally by Jodie Farrugia, was remounted by Alison Plevey.
Ballantyne said among the highlights of her Quantum Leap experience were taking part in the Australian Youth Dance Festival and Dance and the Child International.
"I'm going to audition for all the teaching institutions," she said.
Two Zero is on at the Playhouse, Canberra Theatre Centre until Saturday. canberratheatrecentre.com.au or 62752700.
