Sign language musical to raise money for ASL event

The American Sign Language Friends United (AFU) presented the first ASL Fusion: A Sign Language Musical Performance at the Eastview Campus on Nov. 17. The musical performance was held to raise funds for ASL Rocks which is an annual festival that will be held at the Eastview campus on April 17, 2010. 

"Although it's the first, it won't be the last," said event coordinator, Roberto Sandoval. Over two hundred people attended the performance, said Sandoval, exceeding their expectations.

AFU was created in the fall of 2007 to provide opportunities outside of the classroom where students and users of ASL can meet, socialize, and improve their skills and understanding of one another. 

Student Deadra Tatum said that before she had ever studied ASL she had always wondered if deaf people even had their own form of music. She had no idea that "music interpreted into American Sign Language could be so beautiful," said Tatum. 

There were eleven different performers, and several performed multiple times. 

Russell Harvard interpreted two songs, one by The All-American Rejects and another by the Black Eyed Peas. Russell is a deaf actor who has been in such films as There Will Be Blood, Gerald, and Signage. He is currently in production for the movie Matt Hamill which will tell the story of a UFC fighter. Harvard is Deaf and he comes from a family in which deafness goes back three generations. 

"It is important for ASL students to know how to [interpret] songs," said Harvard.
Harvard also had some advice for other performers, "you have to get the audience involved if you want to have a successful performance."