SKETCH DANCE COMPANY
CONTEMPORARY DANCE THEATRE
Welcome to the About page for Sketch Dance Company. Here you can read all about our company including our mission statement, vision for the future and about core values we uphold. You will also find our company history and development from creation until present day.
​About The Company
Sketch Dance Company was founded in 2013 by Artistic Director and Choreographer, Jasmine Andrews. The company, based in South West London, generate contemporary dance work with theatrical origins. Our ethos surrounds questioning how these styles are understood and challenged in society in different spaces.
Mission Statement
Future Vision
Our Core Values
Sketch Dance Company specialise in bridging the gap between dance and theatre in contemporary form. We design our narratives to move audiences through cultivating visceral responses, that identify honesty within real experiences. Our focus is to explore the socio-cultural impact on community within our work, as a company of artists who endeavour to create a safe space, our practice allows individuals to explore the potential within their own experiences through artistic means.
Sketch Dance Company's main vision is to establish residency with a theatre hub. This could take the shape of in house facilitation or associate artist productions. The core of our development revolves around synthesising relationships with an overall goal of having a home base for creation and performance.
Here at Sketch Dance Company, we uphold 5 main values at the heart of our organisation;
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synergy of dance and theatre practice
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cross collaboration of independent artists
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embracing an ever changing landscape
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honesty in creation and development
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encouraging visceral audience response
JUNE 2013 | FOUNDED |
Sketch Dance Company was founded in June 2013, while Artistic Director and Choreographer Jasmine Andrews was studying her Dance Degree at Roehampton University. Starting off with project based work for different platforms, showcases and video concepts, we created work with artists that inspired and aligned with our ethos. This allowed us to explore and expand our own movement vocabulary at a stage of early development. Following on from our creation, we continued to create small-scale project based work alongside new artists. This, in turn, helped us develop a sense of who we were and what we stood for, which we came to realise was a mixture of dance and theatre practice. We are now proud to classify ourselves a producer of this type of work and are hopeful to continue our future exploring the possibilities in this domain. A few of our credits include; South West Fest, Footprints Dance Festival, Ignition Dance Festival, Be Inspired Festival, Unified Dance Showcase, LNDA Showcase, NPL Showcase, The Dance Ball, Keep It Moving, Between The Lines; The Field, Show & Prove.
​FEBRUARY 2014 | INTERNATIONAL CONNECTIONS |
In February 2014, Jasmine studied abroad as part of her Dance Degree in the USA. Whilst overseas, she had the opportunity to train, teach and build strong connections with likewise artists. Through networking over the 6 month period, Jasmine was able to create work and build her brand with dance performances and films in collaboration with dancers and videographers she met along the way. Many of our connections are still strong today and we hope to continue to fortify these over the coming years. Work created alongside cast and creatives can be see on our 'Productions' page.
​AUGUST 2015 | ARTISTIC DEVELOPMENT |
In August 2015, after Jasmine successfully graduated from her dance studies at Roehampton University, the company became her main priority. Jasmine's dissertation performance in this final year paved the way to solidifying the presentation of her work. With this in tow, she decided to take the summer to artistically develop her practice through starting to create pieces into larger productions. Jasmine also began to experiment with dance on screen during this period, which ignited a new passion for film production. Named 'Raised by Wolves', Sketch Dance Company begun the conception, rehearsal and development process for their first original pilot to debut in 2016 at Chisenhale Dance Space. This along with all of our works can be seen on our 'Media' page.
SEPTEMBER 2016 | PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT |
In September 2016, Sketch were successful in an application to perform their first production in a prestigious London dance venue, The Place as part of a triple bill. 'Raised by Wolves' was due to premiere for one night only as a 25 minute developed piece of dance theatre. This proved to be the start of an exciting adventure, allowing us to branch out and host our very first company audition to source a new pool of artists. Since this point, we have cast the production, been undertaking a full rehearsal schedule, sourced costumes, created lighting design and dispersed promotional material in preparation. You can follow our journey under the 'News' tab.
JANUARY 2017 | RESOLUTION |
In January 2017, the company took to the stage to perform 'Raised by Wolves' to a sold out audience as part of Resolution Dance Festival at The Place. This was a huge professional turn for us and we were very proud to have been accepted to share our work on this monumental platform. Our reviews for this piece can be seen on our 'Productions' page. After two years of evolving and performing this work, we went back into rehearsal and development for our next full length dance production. Utilising the skills and knowledge of this process, Sketch held a second round of auditions to cast for 'My Other Half'.
FEBRUARY 2018 | EVOLUTION |
In February 2018, the company was accepted a second time to perform their newest work back at The Place, London as part of Evolution Dance Festival. This strand of platform is eligible for those who have previously performed at Resolution. This offers artists a wealth of extra support in terms of mentoring and studio space access. Sketch were very happy to be able to work towards this opportunity, creating a new dance theatre piece in line with our values and ethos. Our reviews for this piece can be seen on our 'Productions' page. Similarly, after one year of evolving and performing this work, we went back into rehearsal and development for our next full length dance production in preparation for our first tour plan.
OCTOBER 2019 | TOUR PLANNING |
In October 2019, Sketch Dance Company began preparation and planning for our first small tour. Alongside our creative endeavours, we began to liaise with venues, festivals and producers to put into action a roadmap of our season. We managed to secure a one night performance in a London based venue, a two night performance at Brighton Fringe Festival and a week long run at Edinburgh Fringe Festival. The excitement of this planning was in full swing and we began to conceptualise our longest dance theatre production to date. From previous connections made, we managed to secure casting of main dancers, swings, assistants, musicians, spoken word artists, filmers/photographers and a lighting designer for the show. See 'Company' page for a look into our cast and creatives both past and present.
AUGUST 2020 | FULL LENGTH DANCE FILM |
By August 2020, we had successfully completed the first leg of our intended tour schedule in London performing newest work 'To Have and to Hold' back at The Place in February. However, with the COVID-19 pandemic hitting the UK live dance performance was ground to a hault for the remainder of the year meaning our May and August performances did not go ahead. As a result of this, both Brighton and Edinburgh Fringe Festivals were not hosting indoor performance options. However, after careful liaison with Brighton Fringe Festival they were happy to offer a digital platform to host dance performance at a later date in the year. The company were keen to take the opportunity to develop their work throughout August and September from their February debut into a dance film to be seen by audiences online throughout October 2020. With Edinburgh Fringe Festival officially cancelled, we began work on reimagining our 40 minute dance theatre work for screen. It proved to be an exciting and rewarding process with the team, in addition to a successful end to a difficult year for the arts. You can now view this dance film on our 'Media' page.
SEPTEMBER 2021 | TOUR PREPARATION |
Throughout September 2021, Sketch Dance Company return to our planning and preparation for tour in 2022. Having secured live performances still with Brighton Fringe Festival / OtherPlace Productions and Edinburgh Fringe Festival / Greenside Venues, we continue to liaise over the length, duration and dates of our confirmed run next year. Despite this, we are actively seeking a new London venue to form connections with to have our debut stop on tour. In the spirit of evolving and continuing with our current interests, we will be creating a brand new show to take along with us to be conceptualised and cast in the coming months. Keep an eye out for any cast reveals in our 'Company' section and updates within our 'News' area!