We have news from Allijah Motika who just graduated from Catawba College in May.
He studied music, with a concentration in Popular Music and achieved summa cum laude. He received many honors while there, including getting a Presidential Scholarship, and was on the Dean’s List and Presidential Honor Roll. He was a member of Alpha Chi Honors Society, a Junior Marshal, and was named Who’s Who Among Students.
As a student, he participated in an Artist Development Program, learning everything from being a live sound engineer to helping oversee performance spaces on campus. He also tutored other students in various subjects. This has helped prepare him for life after college – running a band and fulfilling his dream of being a musician!
Allijah is part of a band that formed in 2012 called Life Size. He also is the acting manager, promoter and booking agent. In addition, he’s a co-songwriter, co-producer, and plays multiple instruments for shows and performances.
Already, he has several notable performances:
Vernaculars All-Stars at the NC Governor’s Inaugural Ball in 2013 – with Parmalee and The Avett Brothers
God’s Appointed People Choir at the Democratic National Convention in 2012 – with Jessica Sanchez
Catawba Singers – European Tour 2011 and Chicago Performance – with Eric Whitacre
Governor’s School West Chorus – 2009
Great job to Allijah – we are proud of you and so thrilled that you’re part of the Rainbow family!
As the school year gets underway, we’re learning about what opportunities staff and students participated in over the summer.
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Rainbow’s music teacher, Sue Ford, attended something called the Sister Singers Network Festival at the University of Illinois, Champagne/Urbana this summer.
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There she had the honor of hearing a song that she wrote called “Heal Me” by a mass chorus of 250 women.
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Women’s Chorus singing “Heal Me” a song Sue Ford composed.
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“Heal Me” by Sue Ford was recorded by Womansong a few years ago. Listen to the audio version:
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She also performed with Womansong of Asheville as well as facilitated a workshop called “Rhythm for Singers”.
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The video below shows Sue playing the banjo to one of the mass chorus songs, “I Come From Women” by Amy Carol Webb:
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We’re so proud of Sue!
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But also, if you’re a current or former Rainbow student, family member or even staff, we want to hear your news! Contact us and let us know.
Our Rainbow Community has done it again: we’ve pulled off another spectacular production of Imagine!
From preschool through Omega, students performed skits, songs and lessons all wrapped up in a greater exploration of the outer self. This year’s Imagine performance complemented last year’s production that looked inward.
Each grade performed a skit and many teachers wrote the individual songs or skits themselves. Students performed them while being part of a greater, overall play, written by our very own Justin Pilla. Imagine happened on Justin’s birthday, as well – what an awesome present!
The Imagine play centered on extraterrestrial beings who came to Asheville to observe and try to be like tourists to find out information about humans. Unsuspecting students welcomed them, save one who was suspicious that the aliens really were from outer space.
Each act in Imagine was a demonstration of human knowledge through song, dance, poetry, acting, and much more.
Omega also put on a play between the two Imagine performances called “Time,” an adaptation of David Mamet’s The Revenge of the Space Pandas, or Binky Rudich and the Two-Speed Clock. One of our Omega students, Zoe E. rewrote the ending, hence the “adaptation.”
Enjoy the following photo journey of Rainbow’s 2014 production:
Everyone walked over to Calvary Baptist Church to see the Imagine Production
A Journey From Here…to the Beyond
The opening skit for Imagine
“Those are not aliens! They’re Tourists!”
First graders perform
Fifth grade dance
Third grade skit
A historical figure and a mesmerizing magical crystal
Second grade sings and performs
Our second grade teacher takes the stage!
A shadow performance
Fourth grade electrified
And a “Time” journey…
Opening scene – scientist at work – Waukegan, Earth
Theyre on another planet: Crestview, Fourth World in the Goolagong System
The king demands the sheep wool.
More about Time…
Hiding from the beings on Crestview
Hopefully this does not result in unfair punishment
Our 5th grade Honeybees have been stretching their musical muscles. They worked with the band Elephant Revival learning about singing and songwriting.
Here are our songwriter/singer 5th graders at LEAF in action:
5th Grade Honeybees at LEAF with Elephant Revival
They did a great job with their performance and had a meaningful experience with the sweet spirits of Elephant Revival.
Here’s another look at all the enlightened musicians:
Violins, voices, guitars, and more all amounts to an incredible musical experience.
Elephant Revival had such a blast, they shared an endearing photo on their Facebook page:
Elephant Revival poses with the 5th grade students while they practice.
If you use Facebook, feel free to head on over to share your child’s experience with them while they worked with Elephant Revival.
Something we’re particularly proud of: During the band’s afternoon performance at LEAF, they made several positive references to their experience with the kids and with the school, specifically wishing more schools could be like Rainbow.
Imagine was spectacular this year. The script was written by Rainbow teacher, Justin Pilla, directed by teacher, Dusty McKeelan with music written by parent Billy Goodrum. Additional music was provided by former Rainbow parent, Richard Gannaway.
All the grades worked together to put on this wonderful production of the seven domains. Puppeteer, Donovan Zimmerman, of Paperhand Puppet Company came to train the staff in puppet making and work with the students to build the puppets you see in the video. Marvelous.
