Trenton Thunder Ballpark stadium hosted the Trenton Education Dance Institute (TEDI) on Thursday for its 33rd annual live dance performance, Field of Dreams

TEDI is a youth development program within the Trenton School Districts working with students from fourth grade through high school. Kayla James, the artistic director of TEDI, explained that its purpose is to help students during their school careers.

“Just to kind of get them working as a team, and concentrating on developing their skills all through dance and live music,” James said. The showcase on display for Trenton residents was from students in fourth through sixth grade.

Though not everything went as planned. At around 5 p.m., Trenton Police received a call from Trenton Thunder, according to City Officials. The employee received a call from a male who stated there was a bomb inside the park.

“We were on the field rehearsing with the fourth grade students actually, and one of the people at the Trenton Thunder came up and said, Hey, everybody’s got to get out. We have record of a bomb threat,” James said. After receiving word, teachers quickly moved their students off the property and awaited instructions. 

Police conducted a sweep of the stadium and gave the all-clear. The show went on, and students and residents alike could proceed inside to enjoy a family-fun night. 

Akouc Chany, a fourth-grader in the recital, was happy to finally show off her skills.  “I felt really happy because it’s shown on my progress,” Chany said. “I think I’ve improved by, like, remembering my dances, you know, working with other people, and just having a closer relationship with people that worked there.” 

Trenton residents were happy to watch. Trenton resident Neterra Ali brought her son with her to watch and celebrate the students who were performing.  “It was super organized. It was super nice. It was a nice performance,” Ali said. 

She explained that as the summer months come, she would like to see more of this from Trenton Thunder and the city of Trenton. “Especially for kids… because they need something to do, they need a positive outlet… it’s my first time coming here  for kids. I’ve come here for the baseball game, but I’ve never seen a kid performance on the field. So this was new and this was nice.”

Field of Dreams is a story of perseverance against all odds.  “I mean, these kids have been through so much,” James said. “They did it actually two years virtual and then just coming back into school this year, and kind of all the odds were already against them. So I think just another you know, wrench in the plan just kind of said to them, hey, like we’re going to do this and we’re gonna do it well, and we’ve worked so hard for it.”

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