The Australian Youth Dance Festival is run every two years and is held in a selected regional town in Australia.

This is the first year the festival has come to Mandurah.

More than 160 young dancers have come from around Australia to participate in a series of workshops, forums and choreographic activities that are being run throughout the week.

The large group of performers has been learning eight different styles of dance from Indigenous contemporary to hip hop and physical theatre.

They have been led by a team of professional choreographers, teachers and dancers.

In the mornings they focus on their dance technique and in the afternoons they work on choreography and dance design.

The choreography sessions are aimed at creating Foreshore Cruisin’.

Foreshore Cruisin’ has the theme of holiday-making from the 50s to today.

The performance is split into five groups which will be placed strategically along the foreshore, depicting different moments in time.

Artistic director for the Australian Youth Dance Festival Claudia Alessi said the festival provided dancers with great opportunities to learn styles outside of their own and be taught by some of the best teachers in Australia.

The festival also encouraged teamwork and gave the dancers various networking opportunities to keep in touch with people with similar interests to them across the country.

Aside from learning dance technique and choreography, the dancers have been taught useful skills and knowledge for the future.

“We talk about what is next for them in the world of dance,” Ms Alessi said.

“If they want to study dance full-time we can guide them to those places.”

The dancers are also taught the federal government youth policies.

This year has also introduced students from remote locations to the festival as well as dancers with disabilities.

Ms Alessi said it was great to include those who might not have felt accepted before.

“They’re just all here and feeling really good about dancing,” she said.

The students from the Australian Youth Dance Festival will perform Foreshore Cruisin’ on Saturday as well as performances at the Mandurah performing arts centre tonight and Friday night.