For the past year Katie Gow, Emily Finnemore, Amy Cockram and Georgina Smith have been teaching dance to some of the pupils at one of our feeder primary schools: St Francis. The after school dance clubs have seen both boys and girls participating and learning new skills at the same time.

From seeing the talent at the school it was decided to enter the pupils into the British Red Cross ‘Dance for Life’ competition. The pupils worked towards a seven minute dance piece that explored the work of the Red Cross. Our dance was based upon child soldiers and how the Red Cross offer aid. As the competition date loomed nearer costumes were decided and finishing touches were put into place.

The first round of the competition was held at Magna Carta School where our team battled it out against other talented schools. To huge rounds of applause and beaming smiles it was announced that our team had won and were off to the O2 arena to perform in the big final.

Excitement and anticipation filled the coach as we travelled up to London and filed into the O2. After face painting and technical rehearsals, it was show time. The St Francis dancers gave an outstanding performance which won them an award for originality and emotiveness. Unfortunately we didn’t win overall but we couldn’t be more proud of what they achieved. Well done!