Monkton Combe School in Bath was filled with joy and laughter as the pupils and staff came together to take part in a socially distanced version of the Jerusalema dance challenge that has been sweeping the globe throughout 2020.
In what is a challenging time for pupils at schools around the world, Monkton’s Principal, Mr Chris Wheeler, applied the school’s mantra ‘Monkton Thinks Differently’ to his morning assembly as he attempted to teach all 400 Senior School pupils the dance in under five minutes, in order to encourage and remind them that there are better times ahead of us.
Jerusalema is an upbeat gospel influenced house song by South African DJ and record producer Master KG, featuring South African vocalist Nomcebo. It has provided an uplifting soundtrack for these difficult times and has now been streamed more than 60m times on Spotify. The accompanying dance routine went viral during the summer due to the #JerusalemaChallenge which has helped to propel the song to number one in the US and across Europe.
“As we approach the end of what has been an unusual term in unusual times we wanted to do something to spread some joy and positivity amongst the Monkton Community and beyond,” said Mr Wheeler.
“This song is very much about getting to a place better than that we are in now. The lyrics speak of building a better tomorrow and our pupils are all that tomorrow. It is also about communities coming together and through all of the current challenges, our school remains a very special community, supporting each other every day.
“If we are able to inspire more schools to join us in taking up the Jerusalema Challenge and sharing in the joy and togetherness that we felt whilst doing it, then we would be delighted.”
Only a handful of staff and pupils were aware of what was happening beforehand, but in typical Monkton fashion everyone was soon giving it their all with smiles on their faces whether dancing in public was in their comfort zone or not.