Stettler Independent, February 05, 2014

Page 1

Serving the Heart of Central Alberta for 106 years

VOLUME ONE-HUNDRED EIGHT

PM40011853 R08546

NUMBER SIX

STETTLER, ALBERTA

February 5, 2014

PRICE — $1.09 Plus GST

Contributed photo

Josh Blumhagen, 17, of Halkirk plays the lead role in a YouTube music video released last weekend to combat bullying and support the Amanda Todd Legacy Fund.

Hip-hoppin’ to tackle bullying Halkirk teen showcases acting, dance talent in poignant music video JOHN M AC N EIL Independent editor

Josh Blumhagen is anything but a bully, but the Halkirk native played the role to perfection in a music video released online last weekend. Blumhagen, 17, also showcased his smooth hip-hop dancing ability in the anti-bullying video, which features Edmonton urban-pop vocalist ESMA. The production attracted more than 3,500 hits within three days of the video being posted on YouTube. “The video was pretty good,” said Blumhagen, a Grade 11 student at Gus Wetter School in Castor. “I think it turned out well. “This was my first music video that I’ve done. I was pretty excited, for sure.” The 24-year-old ESMA recruited Blumhagen from his Edmonton hiphop dance studio, 3rd Street Beat, to play a lead role in a video for her new single, Fall Back. “Last spring, ESMA and her casting partner came into our class and they gave us information about it,” Blumhagen said Monday from Edmonton. “And then ESMA approached me after that and she asked me to sign up and to come by, because she wanted me as the role of the bully in the video. “She just said that I had the look for the part, and she had seen my dancing a little bit beforehand. She just thought I’d be a good person for the role.” In the opening scene, she takes

Contributed photo

Edmonton urban-pop vocalist ESMA used her former school and a skatepark as backdrops for a new anti-bullying YouTube music video that’s labelled Fall Back.

Blumhagen’s iPhone from him in a school hallway after he commits an online bullying offence. He remains prominent throughout the video as one of the dancers in the forefront. ESMA told the Edmonton Journal last weekend that she plans to donate at least half of the proceeds from Fall Back sales to the Amanda Todd Legacy Fund, an anti-bullying campaign founded after the suicidal death of the 15-year-old British Columbia girl in 2012. “Her story just touched me,” ESMA said. “(The song) is about having self-confidence and knowing your self-worth. And when people try to bring you down, just tell them to fall back.”

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Todd’s mother, Carol, visited Stettler last summer as part of her anti-bullying educational campaign. The legacy fund supports antibullying programs and offers help for teens with mental-health issues. ESMA’s colourful video was shot last summer over two days and features scenes from her old school, J. Percy Page, along with skatepark shots showing Blumhagen dancing in the bowl. “It was really cool,” he said of the filming. “There was a lot of action going on behind us. We had our own graffiti artist go there and do the Fall Back sign on the skatepark … Yeah, it was really cool.” At the same time, a poignant

message was delivered, as ESMA intended. “I think she did a very good job of promoting her message and her cause that she had against bullying, and cyber-bullying in particular,” Blumhagen said. “Her cause is definitely a good one. It’s really important to get the word out there and to help people that need it in those types of situations that are being bullied or cyber-bullied.” Blumhagen might be a relative newcomer to acting, but he’s a seasoned dancer who has been into hip-hop for a decade. “I’ve been dancing since I was about seven,” he said. “I started at Peacock Dance Academy — that was in Castor — and then I just recently moved to 3rd Street Beat. This is my second year there.” He spends three days a week in Edmonton — Saturday through Monday — while residing with relatives in St. Albert. He stays connected with his Monday high school classes at Gus Wetter via Skype. Sandwiched between two-hour practices on Saturday and Monday is his five-and-a-half-hour dance session each Sunday. “It’s definitely a workout,” Blumhagen said. “The studio I go to, 3rd Street Beat, is an all hiphop studio. And they go into all the different kind of genres of hip-hop, all the different styles that there is … there’s a lot of variety there, so it’s good. Continued on Page A2

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