At just 10 years old, Jasmine Jones auditioned against 80 other dancers for a place in one of New Zealand’s most sought-after dance crews. Now, after years of hard work, world travel, movie roles and performing on international stages, she is preparing to take her biggest step yet: moving to Los Angeles to pursue her dream of becoming a professional dancer.
There’s something wonderfully uncomplicated about the dreams we have as children.
A little girl puts on some music, starts dancing around the living room and announces, with complete certainty, “This is what I’m going to do when I grow up.”
For Jasmine Jones, that childhood dream never went away.
In fact, she took it seriously.
Growing up in Auckland, Jasmine had been dancing from a young age. At just 10, she auditioned against around 80 other dancers for a place in Bubblegum Dance Crew, part of the internationally renowned Royal Family Dance Crew, founded by choreographer Parris Goebel.
She got the spot.
For a young dancer, it was an extraordinary opportunity – and the beginning of a very different kind of childhood.
When the dream demands everything
Being part of Royal Family wasn’t simply about turning up to dance class once or twice a week.
Jasmine’s life quickly became centred around dance, with more than 30 hours a week in the studio becoming the norm.
School holidays meant more training. Family dinners became rare. While friends were enjoying the freedoms of a typical childhood, Jasmine was spending hours perfecting choreography, rehearsing and preparing for performances.
It was a huge commitment for a young girl.
But it also taught her lessons that would stay with her long after she left the studio.
“Having to work so hard at a young age really strengthened my resilience and taught me to believe in myself,” she says.
And perhaps that is one of the less glamorous realities of following a dream: sometimes it requires discipline long before anyone else can see the results.
Learning to handle rejection
The dance industry is famously competitive, and Jasmine learned early that talent alone isn’t always enough.
Auditions bring rejection. Opportunities come and go. Someone else may get the role you’ve desperately wanted.
Instead of allowing rejection to define her, Jasmine learned to use it as motivation.
“You have to learn how to cope with rejection and push yourself to just work even harder,” she says.
That resilience became part of her toolkit – every bit as important as technique, choreography and performance.
During her eight years with Royal Family, Jasmine progressed through the ranks from Bubblegum to the adult crew, travelling internationally and performing around the world.
She qualified for the Hip Hop International World Championships four times, reaching the world finals each time and winning a bronze medal in 2016.
She performed in sold-out shows across Europe, as well as in the UAE, Singapore, Australia and New Zealand.
At just 11 years old, another extraordinary opportunity came along.
From the dance floor to the camera
Jasmine was selected to appear in the music video for PSY’s What We Need Is Love, directed and choreographed by Parris Goebel.
For a young dancer, being on a professional set alongside an internationally recognised artist was an incredible learning experience.
Rather than simply enjoying the excitement of being there, Jasmine watched and absorbed everything she could.
She was learning not only how to dance, but how to perform for a camera.
That experience would prove valuable years later.
After leaving Royal Family, Jasmine auditioned against around 300 other dancers for a role in the hit Disney+ Zombies franchise.
She got the part.
She became a core vampire dancer and actor in the movies, working alongside Disney stars including Milo Manheim, Malachi Barton, Freya Skye and Meg Donnelly.
The productions attracted hundreds of millions of hours of viewing on Disney+, and for Jasmine, it was a career highlight.
For a taste of Hollywood to be brought to Auckland was an incredible experience – and it opened up another side of her creativity.
She discovered that she didn’t just love dancing. She loved performing for the camera and being part of a much bigger creative production.
It’s not just about being the best
Jasmine’s career has also taken her beyond performing.
She has contributed to the creative process, helping shape choreography for international artists including KATSEYE, Starship, A20 and Hwasa.
And recently, she found herself back on an international stage with members of Royal Family in Malaysia.
Performing alongside French rapper Bigben, Jasmine’s act was followed directly by headline performer 50 Cent.
She performed in front of the Prince of Johor and the Royal Family, an audience of around 40,000 people and an international livestream.
It was another reminder of just how far that 10-year-old girl had travelled.
But ask Jasmine what makes a great dancer, and her answer isn’t simply about technical ability.
“It’s not always about being the best dancer or having the best technique in the room,” she says. “It’s about showing the audience your personality through dance.”
For her, the magic happens when a performer allows their personality and individuality to shine through.
And perhaps that is a lesson that extends well beyond the dance floor.
Making room for the next generation
One of the things Jasmine loves most about dance now is teaching younger dancers.
She recognises herself in the children she teaches – the excitement, the nerves, the ambition and those enormous dreams that can seem almost impossible from the outside.
“There’s nothing like seeing your students come to life on the dance floor and realise they can do anything they set their mind to,” she says.
She wants to encourage young dancers to find their own individual style rather than trying to become a copy of somebody else.
It’s a message she has clearly learned herself.
The next dream is LA
Now Jasmine is preparing for her biggest challenge yet: moving to Los Angeles.
The process is complex, requiring work visas, auditions, connections and plenty of patience. But she has already been offered opportunities to work with LA choreographers and has the opportunity to sign with a major US talent agency.
For Jasmine, LA feels like the natural next chapter.
And while Hollywood might seem a world away from that little girl dancing in Auckland, the dream itself hasn’t really changed.
“I knew from a young age that this was my future,” she says.
She still gets that same feeling before walking onto a stage – the nervous excitement, the anticipation and the energy of an audience waiting for the performance to begin.
“It makes you feel alive.”
Your dream doesn’t have to look sensible to anyone else
Jasmine’s story is a wonderful reminder that dreams rarely happen overnight.
They are built in rehearsal rooms when nobody is watching. They are built through early mornings, long hours, disappointment and rejection. They are built by getting back up when an audition doesn’t go your way and trying again.
And sometimes they begin with nothing more than a little girl who knows, instinctively, what makes her happy.
Jasmine has no guarantee of exactly what will happen when she arrives in LA. Nobody does when they take a big leap towards something they want.
But she is going anyway.
Because perhaps following a dream isn’t about knowing exactly where it will take you.
Perhaps it’s about being brave enough to take the next step.
And for Jasmine Jones, that next step is taking her from Auckland to Los Angeles – with years of hard work behind her, big dreams ahead of her and a determination to show the next generation of young New Zealand dancers that a career on the world stage really is possible.
Sometimes the little girl with the big dream just needs to keep believing.
