Make Your Mark: The Dance Off Continues
Two weeks after the Disney Channel launched the Make Your Mark: Ultimate Dance Off, the competition is going strong, with more than 5,400 (!) audition videos submitted online by talented young dancers from all over the United States.
Screenshot from the Make Your Mark: Ultimate Dance Off website, image copyright Disney
When Disney first announced the Make Your Mark: Ultimate Dance Off several weeks prior to the launch of the official website, there was very little information online regarding specific rules and regulations. At first it was unclear how the six finalists would be chosen as it was announced that dancers could submit their videos online OR audition in person at five audition cities throughout July. A lively discussion started up on this blog about the contest, and hopefully everyone got their questions answered. Thanks to all of the commenters!
It is now clear that dancers who audition in person at one of the mall events will be given a retrieval code to download a video of their audition which they can then submit online, guaranteeing that all six finalists are chosen through their online audition videos, regardless of if the videos are self-submitted or recorded at an in-person event.
Since the official competition began on July 1st, Disney’s rules, regulations, and audition procedures have fleshed out the DOs and DON’Ts of the online video audition. If you haven’t submitted your audition video yet, do so now at http://makeyourmark.disney.go.com/. Good luck!
Audition Schedule: (Pacific Time) July 1, 2011 (12:01 AM) — August 3, 2011 (4:59 PM): Audition Period
August 12, 2011: Two (2) Semi-Finalists Announced
August 19, 2011: Two (2) Semi-Finalists Announced
August 25, 2011: Producer Review Complete
August 26, 2011: Two (2) Semi-Finalists Announced
All of the rules below can be found on the Make Your Mark: Ultimate Dance Off website. For more details, visit the Audition Procedures page.
The six semi-finalists will go to Los Angeles to compete in an epic television event on Disney Channel. Kids watching from home will vote for the grand prize winner who gets to appear as a spotlight dancer on an episode of Shake It Up!
Eligibility: To be eligible to participate in this Audition, each Dancer appearing in your Video must:
1. Not be younger than eight (8) years old, nor older than sixteen (16) years old;
2. Be a legal resident of, and physically residing in, the fifty (50) United States or the District of Columbia (“Territory”);
3. Not be an employee of the Organizer; its parent, affiliate, subsidiary company or its advertising or promotion agency involved in this Audition, nor a member of the household or immediate family of such employee;
4. Not have any existing agreements, verbal or written, relating to his or her performance, including union or guild, dancing, acting, music recording, talent representation, or name, voice or likeness rights, or any other agreement that could prohibit him or her from fully participating in the Audition, the TV Dance-Off Contest or appearance on Shake it Up.
Online competitions are often vulnerable to cheating or poor sportsmanship, but Disney has made efforts to ensure that Make Your Mark: Ultimate Dance Off stays fair and friendly. When commenting on videos, viewers can choose from a list of pre-written, mostly positive comments including “Total winner!”, “Oh, 2 cute!”, “Wish I had your moves”, and “You totally rock!” Limiting what viewers can say keeps comments from becoming mean spirited or inappropriate, ala: YouTube. Viewers can “Like” videos, but they are unable to dislike or downvote videos, which keeps the competition from being skewed unfairly by participants who leave poor marks on every video except their own.
Screenshot from the Make Your Mark: Ultimate Dance Off website, image copyright Disney
Once they have been uploaded and approved by Disney, the audition videos can be searched by Most Recent / Most Liked of All Time / Most Viewed / Featured / and All Honored. Some submitters have expressed that their videos have been delayed by as much as 12 days (!) before going live on the site, so be patient! If you are worried about your video’s delay, feel free to record another video with a different choreographed routine and submit that one too, but once Disney has confirmed that your video has uploaded, DO NOT upload the same video again – duplicated video submissions will be disqualified. Dancers can submit up to 20 (!) different routines, so long as the choreography is unique to each video.
Make Your Mark: Ultimate Dance Off: Video Submission Rules
(as announced on makeyourmark.disney.go.com)
Protect your privacy: Say only your first name and home state.
Be original: Apart from the songs you can download from the site, your video has to be 100% original.
Use the songs provided: Apart from the provided song clips, no singing or other music is allowed.
Be age appropriate: All dancers must be between the ages of 8 and 16.
Have a parent’s permission: Each dancer must have permission from a parent before participating.
DON’T Show any brands or logos: That means no brands on your clothes, sneakers, in the background, or anywhere.
DON’T Break the stage: Keep the number of dancers, including yourself, to 5 max.
DON’T Be rude or reckless: Improper behavior won’t fly. Avoid bad language, rude gestures, and for everyone’s safety, don’t try any risky moves.
DON’T Go too long… 45 SECONDS max!
Screenshot from the Make Your Mark: Ultimate Dance Off website, image copyright Disney
Unfortunately, at any time, the contest organizer reserves the right to discretion to disqualify and remove any Video, Dancer, or Semi-finalist for any reason, especially if the Organizer believes that the Video potentially or actually infringes upon the copyrights, or other rights of any third party, or otherwise does not comply with the TOU or these Procedures. If you don’t want to be disqualified, be sure to follow ALL of the rules!
For dancers interested in the mall events, the California city auditions have passed, but Chicago, Atlanta, and Detroit are coming up soon! Eligible dancers who would like to audition in-person and have their auditions filmed and ready to upload online should pre-register for these audition dates now!
City Auditions: July 7, 2011: Los Angeles, CA
The Americana at Brand
Fountain Lawn 10am-6pm
889 Americana Way
Glendale, CA 91210July 9, 2011: San Francisco, CA
Stoneridge Shopping Center
Grand Court 10am-6pm
One Stoneridge Mall Road
Pleasanton, CA 94588July 16, 2011: Chicago, IL
Woodfield Mall
Grand Court 10am-6pm
5 Woodfield Mall
Schaumburg, IL 60173July 23, 2011: Atlanta, GA
Mall of Georgia
Nordstrom Court 10am-6pm
3333 Buford Drive
Buford, GA 30519July 30, 2011: Detroit, MI
Twelve Oaks Mall
Center Court 10am-6pm
27500 Novi Road
Novi, MI 48377
The competition ends August 3rd. GOOD LUCK!
Hi hanna.The semi finalists will be chosen at 8:15 today.
Hello umm excuse me but when are they going to announce the semi finalists
What time are they going to announce the last two semi finalists?!?!?!?!?!?!?!
if you a semi finalist do you get a email? And when do you get it?do they ask you for a picture because arjang and jade had different pictures? thank you! have a nice day!
Hello disney bloggers!How are the semi-fanalists chosen?
Heyy disney channel bloggers. I was wondering if you are a potential semi- finialist will you get an email? Or will you get an email if you are a semi-finailist on the day they are supposed to announce it? Because they announce it sooo late!!!
Also I was wondering… how do they get those pictures of they semi-finalist? For example: Jade in the picture is wearing a tank top. But in her video shes wearing a shirt? So is it not a surprise to the semi-finiast when they announce it? Thx and please relpy!
P.S. I really want to win too!!! And good luck to evryone else heres my video
http://makeyourmark.disney.go.com/s/7308dh
How many likes do you have to have to get a thumbs up?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!
THANK YOU!!!!!
Hi Hannah,
You do not have to have a STAR or a THUMBS UP to be chosen as a semi-finalist. One of the finalists chosen on August 19th, Jade, does not have a STAR or THUMBS UP next to her video. http://makeyourmark.disney.go.com/s/74gna The RIBBON marks her as a semi-finalist.
disney blogger do you have to have a thumbs up or a star to win the shake it up contest?!?!?!?!
Hi Zainab,
Disney has not made an official announcement about a future dance competition (this one hasn’t even aired yet!), but it seems likely they will host another competition if Make Your Mark: The Ultimate Dance Off turns out to be a huge success. This contest has been called the “Shake It Up” Edition. I wonder what other “Editions” they may have planned?
Congratulations to the new semi-finalists!
Casey, 16, WA and Sam, 16, CA – http://makeyourmark.disney.go.com/s/7090p3
Amir, 13, VA – http://makeyourmark.disney.go.com/s/2j5rid
Disney blogger are u only chosen if you have a thumbs up or a star!!!!!!!!
hi disney blogger my daughter just found out about the make your mark dance off and we want to know if the is going to be another (free) dance off any time soon.
im very desperate every time she see’s the announcement on disney channel she gets mad and stomps around the house.
p.s. she is an amazing dancer and imm not just saying that because im her mother please reply
hi disney blogger my daughter just found out about the make your mark dance off and we want to know if the is going to be another (free) dance off any time soon.
im very desperate every time she see’s the announcement on disney channel she gets mad and stomps around the house.
p.s. she is an amazing dancer and imm not just saying that because im her mother pleas reply
who are the other 4 finalists and when do they find out
Hi KT,
Unfortunately, there are several people who have had trouble finding their videos as some videos were delayed by several days or even weeks before going live on the site. If your daughter’s video was submitted towards the end of the contest before the August 3rd deadline, I recommend that you search “recent” videos and go page by page looking for it. If you can’t find the audition, then it’s possible that the video was disqualified for breaking one of the contest rules.
Hi Janae,
Unfortunately, this blog is not affiliated with the contest and I can’t help you find your video. The Make Your Mark website does not have a search feature to allow users to search by the dancer’s name, which would make it much easier to find your video!
My suggestion would be that you start with the most “recent” videos (which are the last ones that went live on the site) and go page by page looking for your name and video. If you still can’t find it, it may be that your audition didn’t make the August 3rd deadline or that your video was disqualified for some other reason. Good luck, and I’m sorry that you’re having trouble finding it.
i dont know what catergorie im in and 28,763 people entered(i know i didnt get the number rite) and there is only 1 of me!! can u give me a link to my video plz like you linked me to the 2 finialists??? I want to see my vid in there
umm can you direct me to my video?? it is taking forever and i REALLY REALLY want to see it!
I uploaded my daughters video. I cannot find it and it is not easy to search through 28,000 videos. There is no way to search? Has anyone uploaded a video and not found it?
Hi Layla,
Unfortunately the contest ended on August 3rd, so it is too late to submit an audition video.
please tell me disney blogger
i really want to go somebody please tell me how to do it
i alredy know the dance moves but i dont know how to record it or put it on shake it up please help me
The first two finalists have been announced! Check out their audition videos below:
Arjang, 12, CA – http://makeyourmark.disney.go.com/s/2qlk9a
Jade, 12, IL – http://makeyourmark.disney.go.com/s/74gna
Um when do they annouce finalists?? Im going berserk looking for it and i want to know if i made it into a finalist or not!!! PLZ PLZ tell!!
Hey! im trying to find the semi finalist for both 08-12 and 08-19 have they annouced it yet! im crazy trying to find it……… Please someone help i reaaly want to know, if i made the cut! And where can i find out? !
Were will they put the names of the semi finalists?? Will you get an email if your are picked? What time on the 19th will they announce?? Thanks
Hello, my daughter used a white mask. Does this disqualify her from the competition?
Disney hasn’t revealed exactly how they are going to select their six semi-finalists, but I imagine that both the “Featured” STARS and the “Liked” THUMBS UP will play a role. Of course there are dozens, maybe even hundreds, of audition videos that have received both STARS and THUMBS UP, but only six of them will be chosen as semi-finalists.
So wait, people win with votes or do the disney editors choose the best???
Hi Row,
Unfortunately, the video upload feature has been disabled on the Make Your Mark website so it is no longer possible to upload audition videos.
Hi Abbi,
Disney.com editors have been reviewing all of the videos before they go live on the site to make sure that all of the rules have been followed, and they have chosen some of their favorite auditions as Featured Videos as a way to make them stand out and help voters find them.
Hi Marriana,
Disney has announced that they will be revealing the finalists over two weeks. The first two will be revealed on August 19th, the next two on August 26th, and the final two on September 2nd.
hey um can you upload your video after august third or will you be disqualified for that?
What does it mean to be featured videos by a Disney.com editor?? The stars mean that they were selected to be featured videos by a Disney.com editor but I dont know what it means???
its 8-12-11 and i havent found out hows the first semifinalist and i really wanna find out so how please wright back
i luv you guys
i luv dancing
Hi Peyton,
According to the Make Your Mark website, the STARS under the videos mean that they were selected to be featured videos by a Disney.com editor. The THUMBS UP under the videos mean that they received one of the top number of “LIKES” for a particular day.
What does it mean if you have a star under your video?
Hi um well i submitted a video a few days ago and i still haven’t seen it on disneychannel.com .What if it doesn’t get in before August 3rd??? And is it possible if you can send me an email to let me know when i can see it on disneychannel.com because the video is under my friend’s email??
hi im natalie, i already recorded it,but i dont know how to put it on shake it up.can someone please tell me what to do.
Can i use any music?
and does it matter if i take dance class?
Hi Jada,
It may take a few days for your video to go live on the competition website. Some people have had to wait a week or longer for their videos to appear. When you uploaded the video, you should have received a confirmation that it was submitted successfully, so then all you have to do is wait for it to go up. If you followed all the rules, your video should go up eventually, and then you should tell all your friends and have them “Like” your video! Good luck!
soo how do i do the video and get chosen
i uploaded a video and it did not work help please!.
Hi Angela,
Everything you need to know about the competition can be found on the official website here: http://makeyourmark.disney.go.com/
The competition ends on August 3rd, so if you want to submit a video, you should do it this week. Good luck!
I’m new at this and don’t know anything so could you teach ke how everything works cause my frowned and I really want to show out pr talent if we have any so could u plz break it bien