tonight we take a look at the power of storytelling through movement the iconic

ailey camp is back in newark fully in person for the first time since the

pandemic began the dance camp was founded by renowned dancer and

choreographer alvin ailey whose prestigious troupe has a long history of

performing in the brick city the camp targets students with academic social

and home life challenges who in the end use dance to find their voice melissa

rose cooper reports as part of our ongoing series chasing the dream looking

at justice poverty and economic opportunity

these kids are spending their weeks out of school a little differently instead

of going swimming or playing sports like in a typical summer camp they're

bringing west african culture to life right here at arts high school in newark

i love the art of it i love the passion of it i love

moving your body to tell a story and to say a language and i think that's

awesome this west african dance class is just one of several activities happening

every day at ailey camp a six-week summer program started by the legendary

dancer Alvin Ailey just before his passing in 1989. newark is one of nine

cities in the country where it takes place Nasha Thomas who was an alvin

ailey dancer for 12 years is the camp's national director and it was mr ailey's

vision that the program serve the youth that don't have access

to the arts and also a quality excellent program

here in newark new jersey our young people are

not they don't have as many opportunities as

our kids in some of the other cities and quite frankly it's free so where can you

go and have a phenomenal summer experience for nothing each day students

split up into different groups and participate in a rotation of classes

like ballet and jazz but it isn't all about dance students also work on

personal development as well as reciting their daily affirmations reminding them

of their ability to do anything they want to do

the foundation of aileycamp is really our personal development class where we

talk about self-esteem conflict resolution peer pressure health and

nutrition goal setting decision making it's really about critical thinking

skills life skills with these young people

trying to build some leaders here and every year we have a theme and this year

our theme is faith so we are exploring what faith is to us what it looks like

how it propels us

how it supports us it's also the first time the camp is fully operating in

person since the pandemic which is something Ifeoluwa Joseph was really

happy about after virtually attending last summer and so i was really excited

to hear that now it would be in person and so during the final show we were in

person in njpac and i was like whoa i wish this was for the entire camp and so

here i am there's a there's a physical environment and everything's been pretty

amazing and as principal of arts high school devon denos says it's incredible

to witness the positive effects this camp has on students and as we know the

pandemic had took a really really great toll on

the confidence level the mental health so

seeing the confidence seeing those introverts become extroverts in many

cases seeing their vulnerability

in those spaces the creative spaces and then on the stage on the dance floor is

something that you see a difference from day one to even day

three or day five it's just awesome i can't imagine

anything else this is like when i got in i was just like i hope

it's this and then i got here and i was like up there so i was just so happy

kids will get a chance to show off everything they've learned during their

final performance on august 10th at njpac

for nj spotlight news i'm melissa rose cooper major funding for chasing the

dream is provided by the jpb foundation with additional funding from the peter g

peterson and joan ganz cooney fund

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