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28 Dance Company is a not-for-profit organisation dedicated to providing a platform for young dancers to grow as artists, challenge their creative thinking, and celebrate their individuality. 

 

Our work focuses strongly on breaking down barriers to participation in the arts. Many of the young people we have supported face financial, social, or geographic challenges that can limit access to creative opportunities. Through subsidised training, mentoring and performance opportunities, we aim to ensure that talent and potential, not circumstance, define what our dancers can achieve. The company is operated by volunteers, run on fundraising and fuelled with passion.

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Working across a range of dance styles for screen projects each year, 28 strikes a careful balance between pushing dancers beyond their existing knowledge, and often their comfort zones, while introducing them to new forms and creative possibilities. This spirit of exploration has recently led dancers to discover and embrace styles such as Afrobeats.

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We are proud to have represented the East of England as the OneDanceUK U.Dance 'On Screen' National representative from 2019 to 2023 with the short films we have created.

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28 Dance Company was awarded Best Mini Film at the Fuse International Youth Film Festival for Chains of Adolescence. Created during lockdown, the film was shot remotely on mobile phones, with choreography developed collaboratively by the dancers in response to creative tasks set by youth leader Sophia Melvin.

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Our other films have received widespread critical acclaim and have engaged audiences around the world. They have been screened at internationally recognised festivals, including Leeds International Film Festival (a BAFTA and Oscar qualifying festival), San Francisco Dance Film Festival, Portland Film Festival, Dance Camera West, where Cuckoo Song was nominated for Best International Film, and Screen.Dance Scotland, where BUNNY won the 2020 Audience Choice Award.

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BUNNY was also selected by Marquee TV for its Summer Shorts series and was highlighted by Dance Magazine alongside work by leading choreographers Will Tuckett and Alexander Ekman. The film also received praise from Forbes and dance critic Graham Watts.

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In 2024, we were delighted to take part in Sadler’s Wells’ Making Moves choreographic platform, presenting our debut stage work, The Party, and were one of only 8 pieces chosen to perform a special gala at Sadler's Wells to celebrate the project. Whereas 2025 saw us take part in U.Dance 'On Stage' for the very first time with Pan.

 

Keep up to date with all things 28 on our Instagram.

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Contact:

sophiamelvin@googlemail.com

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Constitution (unincorporated association)

Child Protection Policy

Equity, Diversity & Inclusion Policy

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