Make Your Mark: Ultimate Dance Off
From a recent string of tween-friendly musical series, it’s clear that the Disney Channel loves music stars. First there was Hannah Montana, then Jonas L.A., and the cast of I’m In the Band (not to mention made-for-TV movies Lemonade Mouth, Camp Rock, and the High School Musical franchise). But the Disney Channel’s recent foray into the world of popular music, Shake It Up, is the first to focus on dancing rather than singing.
Promotional image for Disney Channel's Shake It Up, copyright Disney
Shake It Up is a sitcom that follows the adventures of best friends CeCe Jones and Rocky Blue (played by stars Bella Thorne and Zendaya) who pursue their dreams of becoming professional dancers when they land dancing roles on a local series, Shake It Up Chicago.
And now the Disney Channel is offering an opportunity for other aspiring young dancers to follow in the footsteps of CeCe Jones and Rocky Blue by launching a kid/tween talent competition, Make Your Mark: Ultimate Dance Off ‘Shake It Up’ Edition. The winner of the competition will appear on an episode of Shake It Up which has just begun production on its second season.
From Friday, July 1st through Wednesday, August 3rd, aspiring dancers aged 8-16 (with parental permission) can go to MakeYourMark.disney.go.com/ to create and submit a 45 second dance video featuring up to five performers showing off their choreographed or freestyle dance moves. Other kids will be able to “like” their favorite videos with the most popular being featured weekly online and on TV.
The five-city talent search for dancers for the series begins in LA (on July 7th) and then heads to Chicago (July 9th), San Francisco (July 16th), Atlanta (July 23rd), and Detroit (July 30th). In August, six finalists will be announced on the Disney Channel and those finalists will compete head-to-head in front of celebrity judges when Make Your Mark: Ultimate Dance Off premieres in October. Viewers will be able to vote on the winner from the three final contestants.
The Make Your Mark site hasn’t officially launched yet, but in the meantime, dancers can practice their moves with online step-by-step instructional dance videos from the Shake It Up choreographer. There are already ten instructional videos online, with new videos posted on Wednesdays, Fridays, and Saturdays.
“Watch Me”, a new music video featuring Shake It Up stars Bella Thorne and Zendaya, will premiere on the Disney Channel on Friday, June 17th, with the digital single becoming available for purchase the following Tuesday. The Shake It Up: Break It Down CD and DVD combo pack which includes the first series soundtrack, the “Watch Me” music video, and a series of instructional dance videos, will be released on July 12th.
Screenshot from the Shake It Up website, image copyright Disney
The online Shake It Up Dance Video Creator lets players create their own music videos by setting character dance sequences, backgrounds, and special effects to songs from the series. The controls aren’t very sophisticated and there’s only a handful of dance sequences and backgrounds to choose from, but it’s a fun diversion to try along with the Dance Burst (aka: “click the glowing squares”) game.
And even if dancing’s not your thing, it’s all but impossible to watch the Shake It Up cast having a blast, without wanting to groove along with them.
Whats the address for the make your mark contest?
Go DJ’s mix!!!!!!!I cast my vote to them!!You can do it!!!Woo Hoo!!!!Love you guys!!!!!<3:)
you will make it if you belive in youself.
how do u vote i relly need to know 🙁
I really hope to make it any one know if 6 or 10 acts will be chosen?
We also LOVE Shake It Up. Bella Thorne and Zendaya are our roll models.
We have enjoyed making our video and enjoy dancing. We hope we get to go to LA and dance for people around the world and we REALLY want to be on t.v!
I hope that the winner is me and my friends frommake your mark because we want to be famaus and be a great dancer:D….
i know im not gonna win anyways cuz theirs a whole bunch of great dancers out there. if i did it to a fast song i would probably win
I’m confused…it said vote now but did Mr.Thompson view and pick all the videos already? I really hope not because i am praying to be able to work with him and if so i didn’t even make it online! I worked really hard and seriously did about 20 takes over 3 days after having dance camp all daylol. Good luck everyone,here’s to hoping maybe one day we can work together as dancers 🙂
Please vote for the NewYorkDivas if you like their moves
We practiced really hard
Good luck everyone
i vote for miranda and mary they ware awesome
miranda and mary!!!!
miranda&mary(:
miranda and mary,AMAZING<3
miranda and mary!! good jod!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!11
It is not about winning it is about having fun! 🙂 I did not do it anyway
I have tried uploading but it is taking more than 16 hrs! is it supposed to take that long?
we just got done with our video!we would love to be picked!we worked very hard, and it wasn’t easy. we took about 50 videos ,and it was hard to find the one that me and brooke wanted to use.have fun dancing!!!!!!! : )
please vote 4 me, th diva, because my dream is 2 b a profesional dancer/singer/songwriter!
i really love dancing so please choose me, the diva,
Remember please vote for New York Divas we really love dancing but even if we don’t win we wish everyone good luck
Please vote for us it’s our dream and we love dancing thanks
vote kira louvar from iowa i vote her!
If I upload a video today, but since it takes a couple of days to upload. If I receive confirmation after the 6th that my video was accepted. Will it be too late according to the rules below?
“All Videos must be received during the Audition Period. Any Video received after the Audition Period will not be considered. Proof of submitting a Video does not constitute proof of receipt of such submission to the Audition.”
hopefully me and my cousin will win
i wish i could win i am gonna do the contest but i know i will not win
hey Bella hey Zendaya me and my cousin brooke are so happy that ya’ll gave us another chance so the reason why were trying out is to just have fun and it is our dream to be on t.v. s o we thank disney for that and if we don’t win we hope the other competitors have fun. bye!!!!!!!!!!!!
My real dream is to be a porfeshinal dancer
I wanna Show people That I may be Small But I got Moves
Please Please Pick Me I Really Want To be On Shake it up
Hi may name is Candise , Bella and Zendaya yall are my heroes.If i won that would be my dream come true.Dance is all i think about i practice every single day.This is my dream PLEASEEEEE….. vote for me and my crew.
hi my name is alexis and i really want to be on shake it up ive been threw alot i knowpleez pick me i love u cici and rock so much good luck everybody
They Took my video of the website I don’t know why. They took some other good ones off to so I hope that means they have picked me as one of the finalists.:)
They Took my video of the website I don’t know why. They took some other good ones off to so I hope that means they have picked me as one of the finalists.
when dey say 6 finalist fly to las vegas do we buy our own ticket or they do
I really want to win because I think it will be a good experience & I believe that God will guide me through this!
i really want to win. One reason i want to win is because dancing is my life i started dancing in shows since the 2nd grade before that i was dancing in groups with my friends. The 2nd reason i want to win is because everyone tells me that i am a really good dancer and they always told me i was going to make it far in life with dancing so i think my career should start here! 🙂
You will if you believe
i reallllllly wanna win so bad please choose and my sis