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!
I vote for dj’s mix they are sooo cute and they are really good dancers!!!!!!!!!!
Don’t know why people keep talnikg about her bending her legs so much. What do you want her to do stand there straight legged and not move? If the music touches your soul and your feeling it your going to move. I’m near 30 and never cared for the original version to teenage for me but what she does to this song is absolutly amazing! I would def buy it. What to go girl 14 and sound terrific, your are blessed for sure.
Watch me make my mark!
I was wondering if I can put my viedo on shake iit up
Hi Brooke, unfortunately the 2012 Make Your Mark competition is no longer accepting video auditions. You should try again next year!
can me and my friend angel patterson still try out or is there and email that we can send the video to?
me and my friend angel patterson called upp here and we didnt put our video up in time can we still put our video up or is there and email we can send it to by chance we really wanna try out for it :(?
I wanted to upload a video but time ended and me and my cousin spent alot of time on our dance
Can ANYONE tell me what file format Disney will accept!!?? Their website seems to have no info about this AT ALL.
Do they pay for your plane flight if you win?
idk….
ugh!!!!!!! my mom said yes and stuff to make a video and i can not find a site for it with out downloading anything and for it to be free!!!!!!!!! all i want is to make the video and its not working can someone plzzzzz tell me a site to make my video
Hey my video just won’t upload so is there anyway that I can speed it up!!!!??????
Hi this is are first year doing this and we are really excited about doing this so I hope you will pick us and are names are lexi and taiya hope you enjoy !!!
I put in a video it didn’t show up. what should I do? Also how do you know if you won?
how did ak squared know to watch the news to know that they were going to be choosen
I really hope i dont wait to long to aduttion because last year i didnt get to aduttion but i will this year with my friend Mariah and if we do make it i hope yall vote for us im kinda happy i didnt aduttion last year because AK squared is so talented and if yall see this (ak squared) i just wanted to tell you that yall are the only reason that im going to aduttion and because i love to dance i wish i could dance as good as yall do
Hi everyone,
I’ve posted an FAQ (Frequently Asked Questions) about the 2012 edition of Make Your Mark: Shake It Up Dance Off. I hope this answers some of your questions! http://disney-blog.com/2012/06/make-your-mark-2012-faq/
More information coming soon.
I am Alison and I want to be on make your mark from Disney channel.I really want to be on TV!
Are you aloud to be in 2 dances??? I am very confused and there is no site that says anything about that!
i want to do a hip hop dance!!!!!!!!!!!!!!1
The finalist to fly to Los Angeles will they get a free ticket or would you need to pay?
how to we submit the videos???
im excited
If we win are they going to give us the ticket for free or will we have to buy them?
hi i am going to make a video for make it or break it is it okay if i use a different music that don’t have the soundtrack for shake it up
i will win
is there one evry year if there is ill try evry year i like dance and all but singing is my thing but i still dance. i may be 181 pounds and 9 but i can win i represent fat people!
i might auditon with my sister. we are alomost pros we do all kind of styles
When do the auditions start?
Is DIsney doing another Make Your Mark comepetition in 2012? I auditioned last year with two of my friends and put in a lot of gymnastics. We now think that we need more dancing to win, so will I have another oppurtunity?
Hi Riley,
Disney won’t be launching the 2012 Make Your Mark contest until later this year (Summer 2012). Last year, there were two ways to audition – by recording your own 45 second audition video and uploading it to the online site, or by auditioning in one of the city events where your audition is recorded and upload to the same site as the self-submitted videos. I will blog again when Disney releases more information about the 2012 competition. Good luck!
i am so excited that its coming back on that i literally broke my chair!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Hello Disney Blogger. would your video be overlooked if you do not live in those states because i want to prove that I am a great dancer and i didnt get to because i didnt know about it until it was over. so i was wondering if you could look at my video i would be the most happiest person in the world if you would thank you.
Hello if you do not live in the states provided will my video be overlooked? Because I have always wanted to prove that i am a great dancer and i missed the first one because i couln’t think of a dance. And when I thought of a dance it was already over.So, I was wondering if I you could not live in those states and not be overlooked. Thank you Disney Blogger.
So cool! I am so trying out.
hi i dnt live in the states but i really wanna send you a dance video. do you think you could atleast watch it and see what you think thanks!!!
Will there be another compition because I really wanted to audition but I couldnt think of a dance . I missed it and I am very sad I am 9 years old and a awesome dancer my mom said if I auditioned she said I would make it to the finals
disney blogers would 6there be another make your mark because I really like to dance in front of a huge crowed like in t.v and really want to meet bell thorne and zendaya
IS THERE GOING TO BE A NOTHER COMPITISION????!!!!
IS THERE GOING TO BE ANOTHER MAKE YOUR MARK PLEASE TELL ME BECAUSE IF THERE IS I HAVE TO START PRACTICING
hey i really want there to be a second disney channel ultimate dance of the firt one ws held in the summer and im at camp so i didnt get ot try out and dancing is my favorite thing to do so i was just wondering if there could be another one to give other people a chance
02 obviously! Casey and sam
I vote for 03 and 06.
i vote for amir
love this dance off! i could have auditioned!!! didnt see this untill after the thing was finished!
its really hard to decide well my vote go’s for christina and june well done
I do not understand that non of the 8 or 9 year old kids did not make the semi finlist! I thought that lots of kids under 9 years old audittion.
Hi Disney blogger! will there be another dance off like this? Or is this dance off the only one? PLEASE ANSWER! and do you know if there is any way to get tickets to the make your mark T.V. dance off to see it live?
Congratulations to the final two semi-finalists!
Arielle, Kailey, Alyssa, and Kalani from Arizona: http://makeyourmark.disney.go.com/s/21e632
Christine and June from New Jersey: http://makeyourmark.disney.go.com/s/5f6hgp
We can’t wait to see you perform on TV!