Arlington High loco in Lip Dub video

ARLINGTON -- No rehearsals. Not even one run-through. They just did it.

About 1,500 students, nearly 90 percent of the student body at Arlington High School, starred in a video filmed Friday at the school.

It's gotten more than 20,000 views since it was posted to YouTube over the weekend, said teacher and video adviser Erik Heinz.

Band members, class officers, cheerleaders, athletes, dancers, drama students and hundreds of others performed in the video. It's a form of expression called lip dub that's popular among high school students. The videos are inspired perhaps by the TV show "Glee," flash mob dancing and professional music videos.

The Arlington video, in which students lip synch to "Crazy In Love," a popular Beyonce and Jay Z song, is one of five vying for the top spot in a lip dub contest sponsored by Anacortes High School. Judging begins at 7 tonight in Brodniak Hall in Anacortes.

Everett High's student body shot its video, dubbed to a song by OutKast, on April 18. Everett and Arlington are the only Snohomish County schools participating in the contest, which also involves videos by students at Anacortes, Sedro-Woolley and Mount Vernon high schools.

Everett's lip dub video of the song "Hey Ya!" isn't on the Web yet. People can see the premiere at the annual Mr. EHS contest, set for 7 p.m. May 3 at the Everett Auditorium, or they can find it on YouTube the next day.

"It's our first time participating in the video contest," said teacher and adviser Shelly Whitfield. "The day of production was absolutely great. The students and staff were excited about the outcome, and everybody couldn't stop talking about what a cool experience it was."

Everett's cast included Adam White, Maddy Cooper, Olivia Hollingshead, Jacob Brittle, Maggie Rabon, Michael Letourneau, Ashley Smith, Adelaide Leroy, Colin Fergusen, Daniel Velasquez, Cody Fraizer, Darrick Rongholt, Jason Bergsen, Susanna Komp, Vivian Baimuke, Liza Wagner, Lizzy Rabon and Trever Tuck. The Everett production crew was Kendall Collins, Chase Osburn, Addison Pann and Addison Butcher.

In Arlington, senior videographer Josh Robinson ran the Steadicam during the action.

Students and staff began planning the production during spring break, Heinz said. Ben Ballew, Arlington's leadership adviser, his leadership classes and student body officers were instrumental in the planning and organization of the production, and key players were ASB President DJ Smith and seniors Hailey Jarvis and Austin Kaullen.

The lip sync soloists include DJ Smith, Lexi Lewis, Christian Sanchez, Makayla Markezinis, Mario Mirante, Dana Canaria, Hailey Jarvis, Maya Manzano, Marissa Swegle, and Danielle Spafford. The guy in the elevator is Josiah Miller.

Arlington Police Chief Nelson Beazley and the school's three principals had cameos in the production.

"Some of the kids sent the link to our video to Ellen DeGeneres," Heinz said.

In Everett, Whitfield hopes to make the production of a lip dub video an annual event.

"It gave me goose bumps to see so many kids so excited," Whitfield said. "It was fun, but it was moving, too."

"Crazy in Love" -- Arlington High School Lip Dub 2012, can be viewed at www.youtube.com/watch?v=DrcYt9JPFPY.

The Everett video is set to be on YouTube on May 4. Search for Everett High Lip Dub.

Gale Fiege: 425-339-3427; gfiege@heraldent.com.