The tale of two cities

Year  9 & 10 trip to see Chicago the Musical in London


 
‘Welcome to an article full of greed, deception, and mur...´ wait wait wait; sorry I can´t get the American Chicago accent out of my head, nor the fantastic musical that many students and I were lucky enough to see thanks to a certain Year 10 student, Jenna King.

In September 2010, Miss Wasley, Assistant  put Jenna King forward to receive an award which honors talent in performance and creativity. This award is called the Jack Petchey Award, and even though some students are put forward for it they don´t always receive it. Luckily for Hampton Academy Jenna shone amongst the others at the awards ceremony, and gratefully received
the award and prize money of £200.00. Jenna could have spent this money on pretty much anything school related for herself. For example, £200.00´s worth of dance attire for herself or private classes with an outside dance artist. However, Jenna, being the kind and considerate student that she is decided she wanted to treat her fellow class mates by taking them on a trip to central London to watch a West End Show.

So, on Friday 10th June 2011, Miss Wasley, eleven Year 10 students, 3 Year 9 students and I were lucky enough to enjoy the sights and sounds of central London, as well as the fantastic musical Chicago. After arriving in central London around midday we made our way to Pizza Express to enjoy a gorgeous lunch. It was very nice to see the Year 10 students sharing experiences of the Dance GCSE course with the Year 9´s, and also how well everyone got along.

After lunch the students had 2 hours of free time in which they could explore the local area of Covent Garden and experience London for themselves. One student commented, ‘Myself and a few other girls went off shopping in London...is was so much fun!´ After shopping and experiencing the marvels of London Town, we all met back at the restaurant and took a short walk to the Cambridge Theatre where the ‘amazing show´ (Rachel Varney, 9CD) Chicago was playing.

 
Here are what a few of the students reflected on about the show:
 
‘CHICAGO! It was amazing!´ Lucy Mayo, 10KN
‘An amazing trip and lots of fun!´ Jenna King, 10KC
‘The show was really exciting and lots of fun to watch. Everyone on stage were really good singers, and all the cast danced really well too´ Annabelle Johnson, 10KM
‘The whole of Chicago was great! The dancers in the show were very flexible´ Jessica Carter, 9CD

Overall the trip was a great success, and Miss Wasley and I were very proud of how mature the students were both in and around London and whilst watching the show.
I would like to thank Jenna on behalf of everybody who attended the trip, and thank her for her kindness and generosity. She most certainly went above and beyond in offering her prize money so everyone could enjoy a day out, and I can pretty safely say that by the look on everyone´s faces on the train journey home from Waterloo, that it was money very well spent and very much appreciated. Thank you Jenna, you´re a star!

Lee Robinson, Dancer in Residence