Most of the time young people in custody must follow orders — from correctional officers setting their daily routine, to lawyers and magistrates deciding their fate.
In an environment where they have such little control over their lives, a dance workshop is giving a group of girls at Reiby Youth Justice Centre in south-western Sydney a chance to call the shots.
Kelly (whose real name cannot be used because it is illegal to identify minors in custody) is making the most of it.
"Usually it'd be like someone telling us what to do, but instead it's us telling them what to do. It's a bit of a change and it's really fun," she says.
She is working with professional dancers from not-for-profit company Phunktional Arts on a dance that depicts a confrontation with police and the court process.
"There's the crime scene at the shop. There's also the arrest scene and it is very aggressive and scary, which is powerful as well because it shows a lot of emotion," Kelly explains.
ABC program Compass, presented by Indira Naidoo, was granted access inside two youth justice centres in NSW to document the creative, and often emotional, process late last year.
Kelly ended up in Reiby after years in and out of refuges, couch surfing and stints of being homeless.
"It's led to a lot of mental health problems that I still deal with to this day; loneliness and the lack of hope leads to a lot of drug use."
She has a bail hearing during the Phunktional workshops and is hoping she'll be released — a moment she has imagined for an uplifting final scene of the dance she's choreographed.
"Coming out … and everyone realising that you're a good person and that your bad decisions don't define you, that was kind of the whole point of that scene and like everyone dancing around," she says ahead of the hearing.
But later that week, Kelly is back in rehearsal after losing her bid for bail.
"It was a bit of a kick in the gut. I was pretty upset, but there's no point in stressing about something that's out of my control ... but it is pretty hard, living a life that's not in my control."
Boys 'in need of cultural nourishment'
At Frank Baxter Youth Justice Centre near Gosford, a group of boys will be producing video clips.
For dancer Paul Skuthorpe-Spearim, a proud Gomeroi man, it's an emotional reunion with a group of boys from his home town Moree.
"I knew these boys from a young age so it was like an emotional roller-coaster, seeing the boys. I saw them and I saw my failure when I saw them."
On the first day, Mr Skuthorpe-Spearim, "Uncle Bud" to the boys, teaches some Aboriginal dances.
"You look at the numbers of Indigenous kids that are in these facilities, we represent a high number, and a lot of those kids are in need of cultural nourishment," he says.
Almost half of all young people in detention are Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children, despite young First Nations people making up just 5.8 per cent of the population aged 10 to 17, according to the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare.
Many of the boys remember the dance moves from earlier times with Mr Skuthorpe-Spearim on the outside.
"Culture is very, very important, especially when they're away from home and away from country and away from their family."
The original plan was for the boys to choreograph and direct the dance clips, but they decide they want to be on camera as well.
This created a challenge because they can't be identified. One group decides to tell a story about a goanna — a totem of some of the boys — using shadows and disguises.
"They came up with the idea like they were dreaming the story almost, that they were stuck in their cells and they were dreaming about being out and being this goanna and dancing with a totem and they were free," dancer Amy Weatherall says.
Creating something beautiful
This is the second time Phunktional has run the Beyond the Walls program.
The 2022 program, partially funded by the NSW government, culminated with performances and screenings for family and the public late last year.
Dancer Jodie Choolburra-Welsh says that after starting off quite shy, the young people embraced the experience.
"It was a way for them to heal and to create something beautiful from those experiences.
"You also see the hope, the aspirations that these young people have and what they want to do with their life in the future, how they want to turn their life around."
Kelly, who is now 18 and was eventually released in March, was satisfied with the finished dance.
"Being here is tough, it is really tough. Everyone's just hoping and praying for the day they get out and the dance represents that."
Dancing On The Inside airs on Compass at 6:30pm Sunday, May 28 on ABC TV or anytime on ABC iview.
