Signing Time! Live A Party to Remember
Surrounded by flashing lights, brilliant colors, jugglers, dancers and a giant video screen backdrop, the Signing Time Foundation held the first ever Signing Time Live concert, featuring Rachel Coleman and her friends, Alex and Leah.
Nearly 2,000 people showed up for the event. Families from all over the United States and other members of the community were invited to attend the musical production, which also included a surprise party for Alex & Leah’s frog, Hopkins.
The excitement began when Rachel, Alex and Leah appeared from the back of the audience singing and signing their way to the stage. Rachel encouraged the audience to dance, laugh, sing and sign to the favorites from the Signing Time series such as, Nice to Meet You, Groove With Me, Silly Pizza Song, Feelings, The Rainbow Song, Leah’s Farm, Caterpillar Dreams and more.
Various community organizations participated in the musical production including Premiere Dancers, a kids’ break dancing club. Students from the Jean Massieu School for the Deaf joined Rachel on the stage to help sign to the Feelings song. Preschoolers from Little Learners Academy along with Mrs. Freestone’s fourth grade class from Canyon View Elementary performed Colors of the Rainbow with Rachel, Alex and Leah. Several dads from the audience showed off their signing skills on stage with the Silly Pizza Song. Leah’s Farm was an endeavor that featured about a dozen parents and several children from three months to 10 years old dressed in farm animal costumes bouncing around the stage. Throughout the evening there were several games, prizes and an ice cream party that was planned for Hopkins’ birthday surprise.
One of the most touching and favorite performances of the celebration highlighted hope and working hard to transform into a butterfly.
“We all know that caterpillars can become butterflies. Imagine that you were a caterpillar that didn’t know that you could become one of those beautiful butterflies,” said Rachel when introducing Caterpillar Dreams, the last song of the night.
Rachel dedicated the song to her second daughter, Lucy Coleman, who has spina bifida and cerebral palsy and uses a wheelchair. The Virginia Tanner Dance ‘Dancers with Disabilities Class’ – a group of children seven to 10 years old who have disabilities – danced, pranced and leaped around the stage with the assistance of their aides. Lucy stole the show when she concluded the song with the well-known phrase, “Look at me, I’m flying! I’m really flying! Somebody pinch me,” as she was lifted into the air symbolizing the discovery of her wings giving hope to other ‘caterpillars’ that they too have wings to discover.
From the fun and playful beginning to the powerful finale of hope, Signing Time continues to spread the message to families that everyone can be involved in the miracle of two-way communication made possible with American Sign Language. Whether a child is a pre-verbal infant, a non-verbal child with disabilities or a child who wants to learn ASL as a second language, signing has become an important part of American culture, and Signing Time is thrilled to make ASL accessible to families all over the country.
Though the Signing Time Foundation has been involved in numerous community outreach events, this was the first live stage production and fundraiser that featured Rachel, Alex, Leah and Hopkins.
The Signing Time Foundation is the main sponsor of the Signing Time series on public television. The funds donated to the Signing Time Foundation also support various projects designed to help education, opportunity and communication.
The Signing Time Foundation would like to thank all supporting partners and sponsors of the live concert, including Signs of Hope International, FM100, FatBoy, Stylin’ Impressions, Utah Down Syndrome Foundation and Murray Park Chiropractic.
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