Congratulations, AKsquared!

Congratulations, AKsquared!

The Make Your Mark: Ultimate Dance Off ‘Shake It Up’ Edition was a wild success for the Disney Channel. When the competition first began in July, Disney received more than 28,000 online audition videos and selected six semi-finalist dance acts (AKsquared, Jade, Amir, Casey and Sam, Arjang, Christine and June) to compete in the premiere televised event of the Ultimate Dance Off on the Disney Channel.

Screenshot from the Make Your Mark: Ultimate Dance Off website, image copyright Disney

The competition aired on Friday, October 14th, followed by a Sunday night results show, drawing 4.2 and 4.0 million total viewers, respectively. Both the Friday and the Sunday telecasts were tops in their time slots for Kids 6-11 (2.0/2.2 million) and Tweens 9-14 (1.6/1.8 million).

For two hours following Friday’s telecast, viewers had the opportunity to cast votes for their favorite dancers up to 5 times each by text and online. The official Make Your Mark website was (presumably) so overwhelmed with viewers trying to cast their votes that the site went down that night, preventing many people (including me!) from voting.

Last weekend, Blogging Disney ran an unofficial poll inviting Make Your Mark fans to guess which finalist would win the dance off before the winner was announced Sunday night. More than 1,000 people made their guess, and AKsquared received 46% of the poll’s vote, winning by a huge margin over Jade (19%), Amir (14%), Sam and Casey (9%), Arjang (8%), and Christine and June (5%).

Screenshot of the Make Your Mark: Ultimate Dance Off winners, image copyright Disney

Disney hasn’t revealed any specifics regarding the actual votes cast and the margin of victory, but AKsquared was officially chosen as the Ultimate Dance Off winner, and the four dancers (Arielle, Kailey, Alyssa, and Kalani) will appear as spotlight dancers on a future episode of Disney Channel’s popular Shake It Up dance series.

The second season of Shake It Up premiered on Sunday, September 18th, 2011. The series stars actor/dancers Bella Thorne and Zendaya as best friends CeCe Jones and Rocky Blue who land roles dancing on a local series, Shake It Up Chicago. This season’s celebrity appearances include Atticus Shaffer (The Middle), Ben Savage (Boy Meets World), and Marissa Jaret Winokur (Hairspray).

If you missed seeing the Ultimate Dance Off on TV, the Make Your Mark website is currently featuring clips of all six of the finalists dancing in the televised event. Watch the videos now. Disney has yet to announce if there will be another ‘Edition’ of the Ultimate Dance Off, but the competition was such a success, it’s very likely that another one is in the works!

October 22, 2011 - Disney Channel, Latest News, Online - Read More

71 Responses to “Congratulations, AKsquared!”

  1. Katie says:

    Aksquared you are so SWEET!!!

  2. Katie says:

    Kalani, I am 11. How long have you been dancing for?

  3. Katie says:

    Hi Kaliey.

    Love your dancing!!!! Xxx Katie

    PS: Really want to chat with you all

    PPS: do you have a email address?

  4. Katie says:

    Hi Kalani,
    I am from Austraila and I saw you and Aksquared dance on Shake it up last week. Amazing dancing. Love to chat with you. Do you have a email address?? Love U Katie.

    PS: can’t wait to chat with u!!!

  5. Kalani from Aksquared says:

    Hi Katie I can’t wait 2 talk 2 one of my fans πŸ˜€

  6. Kailey from Aksquared says:

    Hi Katie wat r u doing Please talk back to me πŸ˜€

  7. Kailey from Aksquared says:

    Hi everybody its Kailey here BYE πŸ˜€ u guys r super sweet πŸ™‚

  8. ???????????????????? says:

    Maylene and Shweta u guys r mean aksquare rocks and u guys stink πŸ™

  9. Kalani from AKsquared says:

    Hi Katie r u eleven years old like me. I like to talk 2 u πŸ˜€

  10. Arielle from AKsquared says:

    hi everybody πŸ™‚

  11. Arielle from AKsquared says:

    hello my friends i think i hav my owwn facebook πŸ˜€

  12. Katie says:

    I would love to talk to Kalani as she is the same age as me. Is there any chance I could talk to her? I would love to talk to the others 2. Aksquared is a amazing dance group. Follow your passion and dream and things will go as you dreamed. I live in Austraila Melbourne. Great place to live but you would say that 2. Katie

  13. Katie says:

    Can I talk to the other members of AKSQUARED

  14. Katie says:

    Thank you Ariell. I did check out the video and it’s awesome. It must have been a great/Amazing experience. I would love to try out. Hopefully sometime in 2012. Love u Aksquared
    Katie

  15. ariell from aksquared says:

    hello i bearly went to Chicago i saw Bella and Zendaya they said yes they will make a dance compention at austraila well your welcome ps i dont know when is it? :p

  16. Arielle from AKsquared says:

    Well did u checked my video? πŸ˜€

  17. bianca says:

    very good job Aksquared

  18. Katie says:

    Aksquared U ROX!! You guys are awesome dancers. I really hope they will have a mark your mark dance contest in Australia cos it seems so cool! Please Bella and Zendaya!!!! Give a Austraila and NZ kids a chance.

  19. Arielle from AKsquared says:

    please watch my video at you tube πŸ™‚ or else…… i am not going 2 dance at shake it up πŸ™

  20. Arielle from AKsquared says:

    u guys r sweet

  21. Arielle from AKsquared says:

    Hello its aksquared thank you for all your sweet words. I made a new video at you tube put shake it up/make your mark arielle ok thanks πŸ˜€

  22. ????? says:

    Zendaya can u help me with my home work wats 55555555555555555555555555 times 44444444444444444444444444444444444? please help me.

    PS it is 7:56 o clock not 11:56

  23. ????? says:

    i am sooooo sory but aksquared stinks

  24. evelyn says:

    CASEY AND SAM ROCK

  25. evelyn says:

    i mean AKsquared u rock i am so glad that u win sorry that i didn’t want u 2 win πŸ™

  26. evelyn says:

    aksquared rocks but i wanted casey and sam win but keep up the good work

  27. chayla says:

    CONGRADULATIONS AKSQUARED!!!! YOUR DANCING RULES!!!!

  28. grace says:

    ak squared you are such an inspiration to me! When you won the make your mark shake it up dance off you inspired me to live my dream… dancing.

  29. olivia says:

    hey ak squared(i messed up on my last message so im retyping)i love you guys sooo much.i voted for u and thought u should win.im a dancer to but im not as neary as good as u.arielle and kalani are my favs!!!!!:)

  30. olivia says:

    hey ak squared,i love u guys sooo muchim a dancer to but im not nearly as good as u.arielle and kalani r mt favs!!!!!!!:)

  31. kody says:

    you guys rock!! #1 fan in the world!!!

    Alyssa

  32. christopher says:

    i like one the aksquared

  33. zalicia says:

    and by the way we’re 9 and 10

  34. zalicia says:

    you r GOOD but not better then me and my friend

  35. Swaaagggeeeer says:

    Congratz love the dance BIG FAN OF AKSQUARE!!!!

  36. kaylee says:

    Congrats and u guys sure ca dance

    <3 kaylee

  37. Maylene says:

    AKsquare SHOULD OF NOT WON !!!!!!
    CHRISTINE AND JUNE SHOULD OF WON CAUSE
    THEY DANCE GOOD AND THERE PRETTY ! πŸ™‚ πŸ˜€

  38. Shweta says:

    i just wanted to say i am REALLY MAD at aksquared. ARJANG SHOULD HAVE WON!!!!!!!!!!!!!! THIS ISNT FAIR AKSQUARED RUINED MY LIFE!

  39. Brianna says:

    Hi AKSPUARED, I can’t wait to see you dance tonight on shake it up, I’m a big fan and I love your dancing well good luck bye.

  40. Felicia says:

    Wow AKSquared is ssssssooooooo good! I’ve been dancing for ages but I’m not half as good as them. I’m so jealous.

  41. Jordan says:

    Hey hey hey aksquared. Congrats on your win on shake it up, make your mark. Im 14, my name is Jordan and I loved your dancing on the show. I can’t wait to see you on the spotlight dance on Sunday which is today at 8:30. Good luck and have a lot of fun! πŸ™‚

  42. karah says:

    Hi ak squard my name is karah im only 12 and im happy yawl won i voted for yawl… i think yawl were the best….. im happy yawl never gave up thats what im trying not to do with my singing …….. have fun during yawls journey πŸ™‚ bye πŸ™‚

  43. Tyler says:

    Aksquared i love your dancing Im glad that you won.I voted for you to win.good luck on sunday Ill be waching.I cant wate!!!!!!!!!!!!!!:) and im 11

  44. jessica says:

    hi AK Squared I’m so glad you guys won and I just wanted to say I’m so so so so proud and so happy good luck.

  45. halas says:

    Aksqware is the best

  46. Deme says:

    OMG CONGRATS !!!!! AT THE START I KNEW THEY WERE GONNA WIN JUST WANNA SAY CONGRATS AND HAVE A GREAT TIME ON SHAKE IT UP

  47. Claire He says:

    aksquared was amazing!!! i wish my dance team tried out for make your mark dance competition. nice jobs gals!!!

  48. KeeAnn says:

    When is the actual show when they guess star!!! CONGRATS to AKSQUARED, you guys are talented!!!! If you didn’t win I would be upset, but I would have been happy also if Jade or Amir won!! You all are very talented. CONGRATS once again!!! xx.Keeann.xx aka AKSQUARED JADE AND AMIR FREAK!!!!!

  49. KENDEL says:

    AKSQUARD IS A RELLEY GOOD DANCE CLUB

  50. Erika W. says:

    I loved that aksqaured won! I think that they deserved to win and they also got such big percentage that they were the big favorites. I was voted for them but I thought Casey and Sam were going to win or Amir or even Jade but I am glad they won for sure. I wish all of the contestents luck that perticapated this year and all of the years to follow. Most of all Congradulations to aksqarued for winning such a big title but stay in school and go to college and get good grades. You have to have a big and educated brain to dance really good. Also don’t drink and do drugs. Since you have such a good chance to dance, make the most of it and make the most of your life. Congrats aksqaud, I am really happy for you! (-: