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.
jade deserved to win
i really want to have another one i coulda won so pless make anther
i really hope there is the only reason i whsent in is because i didint have a camra at the time so pleas make anthore one thank you raply yes no
is there gonna be a nother make your mark
Is Disney channel making another make your mark I have been inproving my dancing and I want to try to win and I want to make a video and have fun please make another please reply yes or no
i think ak sqaured should win and im happy they did win because i would like to meet them someday.
yay aksquared
WOO HOO!!!!! I LOVE AK SQUARED AND IM SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO HAPPY THEY WON!!!! IM EVEN FRIENDS WITH TWO OF THEM ON ANIMAL JAM!!!!!!!! WE MET ON WEDNESDAY THE 25 IN OCTOBER!!!!! I LOVE THEM!!!!!1 😀
AKsquared Won!WOO HOO!!!!
Aksquare are the winners I wanted them to win the whole time they were the best dancers between all of them.
AK2 won??!?!?!?!!!???! Awesome I loved them!!!!!! I totally forgot to watch the results! but yay!
jade you also rock
dejha, hi you dont know me but aksquared won yay!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
tell me who won the dance off?
arjang
aksquare won
Sad face. I thought that Amir would win. But Jade is awesome, and my age so……….. yeah
Arjang rocks
Yay!!:):):):):):):):):):):):):) AK-squared won! I kinda didn’t think that they would win, I thought Arajang would but i wanted the two girls 2 win.AHHHH! i forgot their names someone tell or I’ll go look it up. I liked them though 2.I’m talking 2 much :P!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
you know who won AKsquared
And Amir! Amir deserved it more than everybody else,he worked so hard like Jade! I thought they were going to be the top finalists
oh I really wanted Jade to win!!!! ): (: good luck everybody!
Omg!This competition is going good and I have no clue who is going to win! They’re all so good!
I really want either Jade or Amir to win because Jade is like me and I’d be happy if I want and I like when other people would be happy!Amir is so fashionable and such a good dancer!I think he should win!It seems like he really wants to and so does Jade!
Competition dancers would know the Casey and Sam were sooo much better than everyone else
I hoped kristine and June would win or arjang or ak squared or jade or xmcasey and Sam or Amirbut mostly Kristine and June
Tese were my choices for what people won. 1. Kristine and june. 2.ak squared 3. Jade. 4.arjang. 5.Casey and Sam 6.amir. I thought everyone did an awesome job and out of every video I saw you guys were my top 6!! Congratulations ak squared! Go Kristine and june!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
YAY! AKSQUARED WON! IM SO EXCITED!!! THEY WERE MY FAVORITE!!!!!!
The dudes Awesome
WHAT???!!! AK SQUARE WON????? Amir so deserved it more he was Beast dancer
Aksquares won!!!!!! Good job I wish I could dance like you girls
Aksquares awesome you won I was shocked when I saw you win
aksquared won!!!!!
i wanted AKsquared or Christine&June to win! I dont no who one, SOMEONE TELL ME!
did aksquared win?
Who won?
wait who won i missed it?
Christine and June, I was really rooting for you! AK Squared were good but you and Arjange where the best. YOU ROCK! KEEP DANCING! They dont realize your talent. I’m your biggest fan. I’m with you all the way. I hope opportunity knocks many more times. I really want to seee you live your dreams again.
Is Disney Making Another?
ARJANG WILL WIN!!!!!! HE WILL!
go aksquare i hope you guys win and go be the one and have to win you guys hope you guys win go you guys good luck
go aksquare go win and be the next filist i hope you guys win
Amir is really fashionable and can come up with great dance moves. Go go go go go go go go go win win win win win win win win win Amir
Hey don’t leave Amir out.I think he is an awesome dancer.AKsquared and Jade is good too.GO AMIR,JADE,AKSQUARED.!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$!
i lov u, arjang and all of the judges. i vote 4 arjang
if arjang wins, he will hav good surprises 4 him lik spotlight dance on shake it up.
and i lov u and selena gomez
i want 2 vote 4 arjang. GO ARJANG!
arjang! arjang!
Go job to all the kids that trided out I love to dance but never had a chance great job
if you were a dancer you would understand how AMAZING casey and sam are <3