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Shake It Up (sometimes stylized as Shake It Up!) is a Disney Channel Original Series created by veteran TV producer Chris Thompson (in his final series creator role) that aired from November 7, 2010 to November 10, 2013.

The series revolves around Cecilia "CeCe" Jones (Bella Thorne) and Raquel "Rocky" Blue (Zendaya), two young teen best friends from inner-city Chicago who find themselves one step closer to their dream of becoming professional dancers when they're hired as backup dancers on Shake It Up Chicago, an American Bandstand-style variety show.

Other characters include:

Exists in the Disney Channel Live-Action Universe due to Teen Court appearing in an episode, and later on a full Crossover episode with Good Luck Charlie.

Starting with the second season, Disney launched a related spin-off competition called Shake It Up: Make Your Mark where various people participated in competitive dancing, with the winners becoming guest dancers on a future episode of Shake It Up. The first competition accepted submissions throughout the summer of 2011 with the competition itself televised the weekend of October 18, 2011, and the winners appeared at the beginning of the second season episode "Camp It Up". The second competition likewise accepted submissions over the summer of 2012, and aired on the weekend of October 19, 2012, and the winners for the second competition appear in the episode "Home Alone It Up".


Shake It Up provides examples of:

  • Accidental Misnaming: Gary Wilde sometimes has trouble remembering the names of his dancers.
  • Accidental Public Confession: Rocky innocently announces that she kissed Logan (on the cheek) when she overhears Flynn objecting that Georgia and Jeremy can't marry Jeremy "because of the kiss", thinking that Flynn knows about her and Logan.
  • Accidental Proposal: In "Review It Up", CeCe and Rocky invite a reviewer, along with his girlfriend and her family, to Crusty's Pizza where they put on a flash mob in an attempt to impress the reviewer so that he would stop trash talking Shake It Up: Chicago. After their performance, the reviewer's girlfriend finds in her pizza the friendship ring Deuce meant to give to Dina on their anniversary and thinks the reviewer is proposing to her and excitedly says yes. They accidentally become engaged.
  • Adorably Precocious Child: Flynn, who handwaves that he's "the only responsible person around here", and even got a model to like him, saying he's adorable, and Henry.
  • Air Quotes: Deuce accidentally hurts himself whilst doing these.
  • An Aesop: Subverted:
    CeCe: So you did all this just to teach me a lesson?
    Mrs. Jones: No. We just thought it'd be fun! (she and the coach laugh) But the way you said it makes me sound like a better parent, so let's go with that!
  • Affectionate Nickname: Ty calls Flynn "Little Noun", i.e. "Little Dude" or "Little Man".
  • Afraid of Blood: In "Break It Up", Rocky accidentally cuts her foot on a broken glass after taking a dare from CeCe to jump in the lake. Deuce offers to examine Rocky's injury, but faints at the sight of her blood.
  • All Just a Dream: The alien subplot in "Beam It Up" as well as the entire plot of "Switch It Up".
  • Alpha Bitch:
    • Candy Cho gives off this vibe.
    • Gunther and Tinka subvert this: they act like Alpha Bitches to Rocky and CeCe, but given their Funny Foreigner/Cloudcuckoolander status, they're anything but.
    • Kristen Wibler is a classic example of this. She has her own minions and easily wipes the floor with Tinka in a fashion showdown, showing showoff such expensive and well coordinated items, that Rocky, CeCe and Tinka all vote her, twice.
  • Always Someone Better: The dancers of Shake It Up Pittsburgh.
    • Candy Cho to Rocky.
  • Ambiguously Bi/Camp Straight:
    • Gunther.
    • Henry.
  • Annoying Younger Sibling: Flynn.
  • Arson, Murder, and Jaywalking: Oh, Flynn and his video games.
    Flynn: Oh yeah? Well I just killed a zombie, stole a bus, and spray painted the word booger on the side of a cop car.
    • In "Slumber It Up", CeCe says something to the effect of "we'll watch chick flicks, do makeovers, talk about boys & conjugate irregular verbs in Spanish!".
  • Artistic License – Geography: Some episodes are show as being at "Main" station on one of Chicago's elevated rapid transit lines. A "Main" station does exist on the Chicago L, but it's in Evanston, not Chicago itself.
  • At Arm's Length: CeCe does this to Henry when she joins his karate class in "Kick It Up", even taking the time to apologize to Rocky while switching hands to keep holding him back. Made even funnier when she lets go and Henry keeps running until he falls over Flynn.
  • Ax-Crazy: Rocky becomes this toward Ty in "Switch it Up" when he takes her place in the big dance number.
  • Bait-and-Switch Comparison: When Flynn is dog-sitting:
    Ty: What happened in here?
    Flynn: Whimpering, begging, and I had to clean up after an accident (Beat) and that was just Deuce.
    Ty: So where is that filthy animal?
    Flynn: He's in there giving the dog a bath.
  • Bare-Handed Blade Block: In the episode "Oh Brother It Up", CeCe Jones performs this technique flawlessly on a quarter tossed by Logan. He even compliments her on her cat-like ninja skills.
  • Beauty Contest: a children's beauty pageant is featured in "Glitz It Up". The girls range from Girly Girl Sally to Tomboy Eileen (who wanted to play baseball rather than wear a pretty dress and upon meeting Rocky, her first words are "Get me out of here!")
  • Bilingual Bonus: In "Weird It Up", Ty asks Deuce to be a translator for his date with a foreign exchange student that only speaks Spanish.
  • Bill... Bill... Junk... Bill...: Parodied in "Apply It Up":
    CeCe: Bill for Mom. Bill for me that I'll give to Mom. Catalog for Mom that I'll take for me.
  • Black and Nerdy: Rocky.
  • Blonde, Brunette, Redhead: Tinka, Rocky, and CeCe respectively.
  • Bread, Eggs, Breaded Eggs: In "Fire It Up", one of the reasons CeCe didn't want to go to prison is because she is afraid to wear the uniform there. She says that she does not look good in orange, nor does she look good in jumpsuits, and she does not look good in orange jumpsuits.
  • Broken Aesop: In one episode when Gunther learns to be cool and uses an American accent (which amounts to being obnoxious and acting like he came straight out of MTV) he has girls swooning over him. The aesop ends up being "be yourself" but that doesn't stop an unintended aesop of "act like everyone else and people will like you better" from appearing.
  • Brother–Sister Incest: Tinka had to let Gunther know that they wouldn't grow old and get married. Cue Gunther looking depressed.
  • Butt-Monkey: Every character takes a turn to be the Butt Monkey at times.
  • Call-Back: "Hello, Bay-BEE!"
  • Camp Gay: The famous choreographer Theodore Vainglorious in the episode "Double Pegasus It Up".
  • Catchphrase:
    Gunther: I'm Gunther!
    Tinka: And I'm Tinka!
    Together: And we are THE HESSENHEFFERS!
    • Parodied from time to time. Others would introduce themselves in that manner, finishing with, "and we are STAYING!" or "and you are UNEMPLOYED!"
    • Also Flynn's shout when he answers the door:
      Flynn: I'll get it, Mom!
    • The shout is subverted in "Vatalihootsit It Up", when he screams it as the phone rings, it's his mom on the line.
  • Cannot Tell a Joke: Rocky.
  • The Cast Show Off: And how. Several of the stars have had a song featured somewhere in the show, beyond as a parody or gag (Bella, Zendaya and Caroline have songs that were featured during Shake It Up Chicago dance numbers, for example). And of course, the dancing is central to the show's very premise.
  • Celeb Crush: The two leads are implied to have one on Taylor Lautner.
  • Celebrity Paradox: Between the two of them Bella Thorne and Zendaya have four songs that have been played on the show during dance numbers, yet no one in the Shake It Up! universe wonders why CeCe and Rocky look like them. Could be explained by the fact that the singers of those songs are only heard and never seen, so there's no reason to believe anyone In-Universe actually knows what they look like. Also, the song "Show Ya How" is by Adam and Kenton (Deuce and Gunther respectively) in "Protest It Up"
    • Like Bella and Zendaya, Caroline Sunshine (Tinka) has a song that has been played during a dance number (specifically during the opening Shake It Up Chicago segment in "Embarrass It Up") but at least this one could be a "pass" as her singing voice isn't exactly identifiable as Tinka's.
  • Chained Heat: After CeCe spectacularly fails her audition, Rocky forces Gary to let her be on the show by stealing CeCe's mom's handcuffs, chaining herself to CeCe and dragging her onto the stage.
  • Characterization Marches On: Gunther and Tinka went from being the Alpha Bitch Funny Foreigner couple to just the Funny Foreigner couple...sometimes. Moreover, Flynn went from being just a prankster to actually showing a surprising amount of intelligence and even maturity, almost as if Rocky is starting to rub off on him.
  • Child Prodigy: Henry.
  • Christmas Episode: "Jingle It Up" and "Merry Merry It Up".
  • Cloudcuckooland: Gunther and Tinka's homeland. Lampshaded when Rocky and CeCe meet their family:
    Rocky: Oh my gosh, Gunther and Tinka are the normal ones.
  • Cloudcuckoolander: Gunther and Tinka are the most obvious examples, but CeCe has her moments, especially when she tries to concoct a Zany Scheme.
  • Clown-Car Base: Ty's "Man-cave".
  • Comically Missing the Point:
    (Destiny, Flynn's crush, is twice his age)
    Ty: Whoa! Little dude, you left out one tiny detail about Destiny.
    Flynn: Didn't I mention she's blonde?
    • Also:
      CeCe: She's a gold finger.
      Rocky: Digger.
      CeCe: No, I don't dig her. She's a user.
  • Commuting on a Bus: Kenton Duty who plays Gunther Hessenheffer has dropped down from main character status to recurring character status as of Season 3. There is a Written-In Absence in the season premiere as it is explained that Gunther has returned to his homeland to both care for his ailing grandmother and help squelch a revolution.
  • Compressed Vice: It is mentioned in exactly one episode that CeCe has dyslexia. It is never brought up again.
  • Coordinated Clothes: Gunther and Tinka are extravagant twins who often wear matching outfits, but not the same ones (e.g. Gunther's will sport a 'G' and Tinka's a 'T'). Gunther's outfits might be seen as slightly creepy.
  • Credit Card Plot:
    • In the second episode, the girls open bank accounts in order to manage their income as dancers on Shake It Up Chicago. Now wielding debit cards, they find it surprisingly easy to lose track of how much they've been spending, and find themselves holding a check they can't pay at an expensive Italian restaurant.
    • Although debit cards don't get overdrawn, they get declined due to insufficient funds.
  • Crossover: With Good Luck Charlie, entitled "Charlie Shakes It Up".
  • Cute Witch: CeCe's costume in "Beam It Up".
  • Chuck Cunningham Syndrome:Henry doesn't appear nor get a mentioned in season 3.
  • Dawson Casting: In-Universe example in the episode "Age It Up": "teen sensation" Justin Starr is really 24 and married (his wife goes on tour with him as his "manager"), and plays 16 to appeal to teenage girls. The show itself avoids this—none of the leads are in their twenties, with only Roshon Fegan (whose character is older than the rest anyway) being over 16. Ainsley Bailey who plays 14 year old Dina Garcia is 20 in real life.
  • Defying the Censors: In "Give It Up", Mrs. Locassio mentions that she used to dance as a Vegas showgirl in her birthday suit.
    • From the same episode:
      Deuce: FYI, Seraphina told me couture means fancy clothes. I thought it meant lady parts.
  • Diagonal Billing: Even In-Universe the two can't determine who is the sidekick and they seem to have equal screen time and plots centered around each of them.
  • Disappeared Dad: The only thing we know about CeCe's dad is he isn't there.
    • Now we know that her mom and dad are divorced.
    • Rocky's dad has gone overseas, joining Doctors Without Borders. Potentially starting with "Apply It Up" it's now implied that Rocky's dad is staying with the family again.
  • Disproportionate Retribution: In Hot Mess It Up, on Rocky and Cece’s new web show, Cece gives bad advice to a boy who couldn’t get a date for his school dance, telling he change schools and start over, leaving him separated for his twin sister, who sends them an angry e-mail for the bad advice. Then Rocky believes it is Gunther and Tinka, and makes Cece be his date for the school for it. However, Rocky goes too far by enjoying Cece’s humiliation and suffering, even helps publicly humiliate her. While did Cece need to be punished for giving bad advice to someone, it was by much on Rocky’s part to embarrass Cece in front of everyone at school, especially when it was revealed to Gunther and Tinka’s cousins whom were being separated because of Cece’s bad advice not them. At the end of the episode, Cece is rightfully furious at Rocky for publicly humiliating her.
  • "Do It Yourself" Theme Tune: Averted, unusually for the Disney Channel. Selena Gomez sings the theme song, but she never appears on the show.
  • Double Standard: Abuse, Female on Male: When Henry (CeCe's tutor) shows up with his clothes torn and multiple bruises, the audience's reaction is "aww." When it's revealed that his abuser is a girl, cue audience laugh track.
  • Downer Ending: "Party It Up". After Mrs. Jones forces Ty and Deuce to reveal CeCe and Rocky's whereabouts by making them drink lots of water and fill them with urine, she finds them at Gary Wilde's party, brings them home and grounds them for a month. In the last scene, the whole group is forced to clean up the kitchen of their apartment.
    • "Show It Up", which is also a The Bad Guy Wins ending.
    • ''Ty It Up", and while mileage varies since Ty becomes the new host and CeCe] and Tinka pass the audition. But Rocky isn't brought back to the show even though there was a spot for her since Ty becomes host instead of a regular background dancer.
  • Dramatic Spotlight: An interesting example in "Start It Up", in that the spotlight itself causes the drama (specifically, it effectively dazes CeCe, nearly disqualifying her from being on Shake It Up Chicago, at least until Rocky steps in).
  • Eek, a Mouse!!: In one episode, Deuce gets scared and jumps onto a chair when he sees a mouse, which Ce Ce's brother, Flynn, mocks him for.
  • Elderly Future Fantasy: "Reunion It Up" features a double version, with both Rocky and CeCe imagining what their life could be like if their friendship broke up. In Rocky's fantasy she imagines CeCe went on to be a rich successful dancer (who due to plastic surgery still looks young) whilst due to never having CeCe to push her into doing things outside her comfort zone, she never amounted to anything and is still a background dancer on Shake It Up Chicago. In CeCe's fantasy she imagines that Rocky went onto have an important professional career and become a wealthy businesswoman, whilst without Rocky to be her common sense, she failed at everything she ever tried and is now an elderly homeless woman with no prospects.
  • Fake Guest Star: For the first season, Caroline Sunshine as Tinka. She doesn't appear in the opening until Season 2, even though her character appeared in one episode more than Gunther.
  • Feigning Intelligence: CeCe does this twice. First when she starts dating James and tries to be smart like him and second when she goes on a date with a blind guy who is also very smart and pretends to like whatever he says.
  • Firemen Are Hot: Georgia's relationship with Jeremy qualifies just as much.
  • Flanderization: CeCe goes from being an average student to a girl who doesn't know what Pittsburgh is in one episode.
  • Flirty Stepsiblings: CeCe and Logan give off these vibes, in a Belligerent Sexual Tension sort of way. Their parents end up calling off the wedding in the end; however, in the future-set episode, we learn that Logan and CeCe are married.
  • Food as Bribe: Flynn will do anything if you give him ice cream.
  • Funny Foreigner: Gunther and Tinka.
  • Friendly Enemy: Gunther and Tinka to Rocky and CeCe.
    CeCe: We're frenemies, right? And the first part of that is "friends."
    Tinka: And the last part is "enemies."
  • Gave Up Too Soon: In the episode "Slumber It Up", Flynn Ty Deuce and Gunther go on a treasure hunt to find a lost treasure hidden in "Crusty's Pizza". They then realize the map was a fake and call off the search, but after Ty Deuce and Gunther leave Flynn ends up finding the treasure himself anyway.
  • Generation Xerox: From "Future It Up", Cece's son with Logan, L.J. looks almost exactly like Flynn.
  • Golddigger: In "Match It Up", a girl named Savannah only wants Deuce because he is participating in a "Cash Tornado" hoping he will win a lot of money for her. CeCe and Rocky trick her into revealing her true colors by disguising Ty as a famous billionaire.
  • G-Rated Drug: Energy drinks. Rocky lampshades this by comparing it to steroid use and painting a slippery slope picture of what will happen to her and CeCe if they resort to them.
  • Hammerspace Hideaway: Flynn stows away inside CeCe's suitcase to get on the Shake It Up, Chicago! field trip in "Shake It Up, Up and Away".
    • Flynn, along with CeCe Rocky and Deuce, does this again in the crossover episode with Good Luck Charlie where the ending gag reveals that the four have stowed away in Teddy's luggage back to Denver; CeCe and Rocky in Teddy's suitcase, Flynn in her carry-on and Deuce in her purse...heh heh "her purse"!
  • Handshake Substitute: CeCe and Rocky do a slap swear instead of a Pinky Swear.
  • Handsome Lech: Gary Wilde, using lines such as:
    Gary: You have the right to remain foxy!
  • Heterosexual Life-Partners: CeCe and Rocky, who do absolutely everything together, and have the same hopes and dreams. Reinforced by Rocky's refusal to be on the show if CeCe can't be on.
  • Hollywood Genetics: Zendaya is biracial, but both Rocky's parents are dark skinned African-Americans.
  • Hypocritical Humor:
    • In "Meatball It Up", Flynn complains about CeCe and Rocky swimming in the money they got from the bank; however, the girls catch him trying to steal half of the money.
    • Rocky is a Loony Fan of Justin Starr and throughout "Age It Up" keeps obsessing over him and trying to have him all to herself. When it is revealed in the end that he is really 24 years old and married to his manager, what is her reaction? "I knew there was something about you the moment I first saw you, which is reason why I was never that big of a fan".
    • In "Party It Up", CeCe and Rocky blackmail Ty and Deuce into covering for them while they sneak out to Gary Wilde's party by threatening to expose them for hijacking a golf cart. Later, Flynn finds out and shakes each of them down for 20 bucks.
    CeCe: I can't believe I'm being blackmailed by my own brother!
  • Idiosyncratic Episode Naming: The episodes are titled as "(Plot Point) It Up", with the exceptions of "Shake It Up, Up And Away" (which, due to the Title Drop episode name, still has the words 'It' and 'Up'; however those two words aren't at the end of the episode name like all other episodes); the 90-minute special Shake It Up: Made In Japan; and the Series Finale "Remember Me," the only episode not to have "It Up" in the title at all.
  • Imagine the Audience Naked: CeCe suggests this to Rocky at the audition so she's not intimidated by the other dancers. It backfires horribly when this produces some rather disturbing mental images.
    • It backfires again when CeCe comes down with Performance Anxiety and Rocky reminds her to do this. The only person CeCe can imagine naked is herself.
  • Incredibly Lame Pun: Deuce and Flynn's jokes during the talent show.
    • Ty, Flynn & Danika also use these in "Embarrass It Up".
  • Indy Escape: Played for Laughs in "Match It Up". Deuce is being manipulated by a Gold Digger named Savannah who is only dating him for the money he is collecting during the Cash Tornado tournament. When he sees Savannah flirting with Ty (whom Rocky had disguised as a famous billionaire to expose Savannah's true colors), he immediately rips the tornado ball out of its place and rolls it whilst inside of it like a hamster wheel trying to run Ty over.
  • Informed Ability: CeCe's matchmaking skills. It's only brought up in one episode, and the match in that episode didn't hold up so well.
  • It Will Never Catch On: In the episode that tells us about Shake It Up Chicago's 1950's counterpart, the past equivalent of Flynn has a Running Gag where he suggests a modern-day convenience (e.g. the microwave, cell phones), and is regularly dismissed.
  • Jerkass Dissonance: Invoked In-Universe by Gunther and Tinka towards the Bulldogs' cheerleaders:
    Gunther: I know they're calling us losers, but they do it in such an entertaining way that it's infectious!
  • Jerk with a Heart of Gold: CeCe Jones.
  • Large Ham: From the pageant episode, when Ilene wins.
    Ilene: I wish all the little girls could feel as pretty as I do!
    • Gunther and Tinka have their moments of this too.
    • As does Flynn.
    • Ty certainly does.
  • Kiss of Life:
    Ronny: I caught her kissing my boyfriend!
    Angie: He was drowning! I was giving him mouth-to-mouth!
  • "L" Is for "Dyslexia": CeCe has it. So does Bella Thorne.
  • Little Boy Seeks Big Girl: Flynn towards Destinynote  in one episode.
  • Local Hangout: Crusty's Pizza Shop, as of Season 2.
  • Loony Fan: Subverted in the episode "Copy Kat It Up", wherein a shy, socially-awkward girl named Kat seems to have a near-stalkerish obsession with the girls, especially CeCe. It turns out to be a Batman Gambit to get a spot dancing on the show.
  • Lovable Alpha Bitch: Gunther and Tinka simultaneously live up to and subvert this trope (specifically the "Alpha Bitch" part).
  • Malaproper: In "Hook It Up", Gary is seen consistently using incorrect names for everyone he talks to:
    Gary: Look Coco, Ricky, I like you. If I didn't, I wouldn't have even bothered to remember your names.
    CeCe: You didn't. It's CeCe and Rocky.
  • Manipulative Editing: In "Reality Check It Up". Makes sense since the episode was about a Reality Show.
  • Mega Meal Challenge: In "Meatball it Up", Rocky had to take on one called the "Big Fat Heart Attack", which features a 10-pound meatball atop a big plate of spaghetti, with all meals free if she finishes within an hour. A later episode revealed the restaurant had to be shut down when one of the customers almost died upon taking the challenge.
  • The Match Maker: CeCe plays Matchmaker for Deuce and Dina in "Match It Up".
  • Meaningful Name: The nickname Deuce doesn't make much sense until his real name is revealed to be Martin Martinez.
  • Michael Jackson's Thriller Parody: CeCe is terrified to go to prison in "Fire It Up". Rocky tries to console her by telling her she can do this trope there with fellow prisoners. It then cuts to an Imagine Spot of this happening. It then cuts back to the two girls, and they think this is not sound endearing.
  • Modesty Shorts: Rocky wore this at least once. She wore biker shorts during a spotlight dance in "Copy Kat It Up", and for good reason since the skirt spent almost as much time up as it did down.
  • Mr. Fanservice: Ty Blue and Deuce.
  • Ms. Fanservice: CeCe & Rocky can be seen as this, through use of Painted-On Pants and Leg Focus, respectively.
  • Mundane Made Awesome: Debit cards, debit cards, debit cards.
  • Never My Fault: CeCe selfishly causes her mother and Jeremy to break up in "Merry Merry It Up" and insists throughout the episode that she has nothing to do with the breakup, repeatedly saying "SHE BROKE UP WITH HIM!!!!". It wasn't until she had Yet Another Christmas Carol experience that she finally realizes her mistake and gets them back together.
  • No Celebrities Were Harmed:
    • Gary Wilde is a parody of Ryan Seacrest, who is also a known host of competition programs.
    • Justin Starr is a parody of Justin Bieber, with his gentle features, pop songs, and comfortable style of dress. Of course, as far as we know, Bieber wasn't an adult pretending to be a teenager.
  • Not Me This Time: After ruining Rocky and Logan's date in "Love & War It Up", Cece feels bad and tries to fix things by being more supportive of the relationship at Logan's badminton game, which even Rocky thought was lame. Casper Carrington III walks in and joins them. Rocky understandably suspects she set her up, but Cece swears he came without her knowledge. Casper verifies this and explains he's a fan of badminton. Since he didn't try to hide the fact Cece invited him the previous night to ruin their date, Rocky believes him.
  • Official Couple: Deuce and Dina are a romantic pairing.
    • And, according to "Future It Up", Ty and Tinka and Cece and Logan, though Ty and Tinka won't get together for 22 years and Cece and Logan won't until some time after the show ends.
  • Older Than She Looks: Georgia Jones is more than likely in her mid-to-late thirties considering CeCe's age. However Anita Barone is 48 years of age which is almost old enough to be Flynn's Grandma. And while she looks closer to 50 than 40 in the face, her body doesn't look older than 35.
  • One-Steve Limit: Invoked In-Universe.
    Flynn: Who is it?
    Deuce: Deuce.
    Flynn: Deuce who?
    Deuce: How many Deuces do you know?
  • O.O.C. Is Serious Business: In "Apply It Up", when Flynn begins the Running Gag mentioned below, Henry simply responds "Hi Flynn", which prompts the following response:
    Flynn: What? "Hi Flynn?" Where's the insult? Where's the big words I'll have to look up after you leave?
  • Opposites Attract: Logan and Cece will get married and have a kid some time in the next 22 years, according to "Future It Up".
  • Out-of-Context Eavesdropping: In the episode "Hot Mess It Up", CeCe and Rocky think Gunther is moving back to the old country due to taking bad advice from CeCe on their webshow when they overhear him telling Tinka that he bought a plain ticket to the old country and Tinka being very sad about it. However, it turns out they misinterpreted the conversation as the plain ticket is really for a sequence convention across town and Gunther and Tinka's cousin is really the one moving back to the old country.
  • Overly Long Gag: "Show it Up" begins with a long string of Rocky winning second place awards while Candy Cho wins first.
  • Pac Man Fever: A Bland-Name Product Modern Warfare that plays on Nintendo 64, a system older than most of the cast. Bonus points for playing it with wireless PlayStation controllers.
  • Painted-On Pants: CeCe seems to like these.
  • Pardon My Klingon: In "Split It Up", upon hearing that Gary has chosen CeCe over her as Gunther's dance partner for a Wake Up Chicago appearance, Tinka rattles off a blue streak in her native tongue that Gunther declines to translate.
  • Performance Anxiety: CeCe suffers it in the Pilot episode, which is ironic since she was the most confident about the audition.
  • Playing Cyrano: Rocky and Ty both play Cyrano for CeCe and James respectively in "Opposites Attract It Up".
  • Politically Correct History: The 1950's episode, where the multi-racial main cast co-exist quite peacefully and comfortably in and out of class in spite of the pre-Civil Rights Movement racial politics of the day.
  • Prized Possession Giveaway: In the Christmas Episode "Jingle It Up", Cece spends the episode being in-love with a handbag she finds at the mall while Flynn tricks Rocky into buying him a brand new video game console. At the end, however, they discover their neighbor's house suffered a fire and they lost everything. Flynn jumps at the chance to donate his new game console, and though she's reluctant at first, Cece also gives them her handbag.
  • Real Life Writes the Plot: A fire occurred at the Shake It Up Chicago! set in real life, so they incorporated that into the plot.
  • Really 17 Years Old: Inverted in the episode "Age It Up".
  • "The Reason You Suck" Speech: CeCe gets the biggest one in "Oh Brother It Up", from Logan; You can't really argue with him when he calls CeCe out on her work ethic and attitude.
  • Refuge in Audacity: CeCe at the beginning of "Meatball It Up".
  • RunawayCouple: Georgia and Jeremy decided not to get married and call off the engagement at the alter.
  • Right Behind Me:
    • In "Throw It Up, CeCe makes fun of a British band called "The Highlighters" who are scheduled to perform on Shake it Up, Chicago! Unfortunately, the Highlighters just arrived and were standing right behind her. Thanks to CeCe, the band quits offended and CeCe and Rocky have to stop Gary from finding out.
    • Subverted in the Boot Camp Episode. CeCe tries to convince her cabinmates to sneak out after curfew to a party across the lake and starts making fun of Rocky for her promotion to drill sergeant. Her cabinmates suddenly get frightened and she then asks if Rocky is standing behind her, only to turn around and see Major Dance.
  • Rummage Sale Reject: Gunter and Tinka are never seen without these kind of clothes. At one point they wore burglar outfits that sparkled.
  • Running Gag: Flynn: Hello (long-winded description of Henry that includes mockery of Henry's nerdiness). Henry: Hello (equally long-winded description of Flynn that includes a derisive comment about his lack of intelligence).
    • Rocky and CeCe's occasional speaking in-sync.
    • "I'LL GET IT, MOM!"
  • Ruritania: Wherever it is Gunther and Tinka are from.
  • Sarcastic Confession: In "Party It Up", CeCe pulls this trick on her mom, "jokingly" telling her that she and Rocky are sneaking out to Cary Wilde's party while she leaves for work. Georgia easily buys it, even jokingly asking them to buy milk after they "sneak out".
  • Sassy Black Woman: Rocky's mom, and Rocky when she gets mad.
    CeCe: You know, you scare me when you move your head like that!
  • Scout-Out: "Boot it Up" has the Rainbow Girls and the Coyote Rangers.
  • Secret Test of Character: Deuce is put into one in "Glitz It Up" when he takes the blame for Dina "losing" her father's pet pig, which he was tasked to babysit for three days in order to inherit the Garcia family treasure. In reality, Dina actually gave the pig back to her father and there was never any treasure in the first place. The real purpose of the assignment was to test Deuce's protectiveness over Dina.
  • She Cleans Up Nicely: Tinka, when she goes on her date with Ty in "Add It Up".
    • And again in "Tunnel It Up" after she loses all of the ridiculous, extravagant outer layers of her dress. It's even lampshaded by Deuce.
    • Also, Eileen in "Glitz It Up".
  • Shipper on Deck: Rocky towards CeCe and Gunther in "Hot Mess It Up" as a way of teasing the former.
    • Rocky and CeCe towards Georgia and her ex-husband, and again with Georgia and Jeremy.
  • Ship Tease: "Add It Up" teases a Ty/Tinka pairing. She Cleans Up Nicely, they end up dancing on an elevated train platform, and they both say they had a nice time and might go out again.
  • Shoe Size Angst: In "Add It Up" Rocky confesses having enormous feet, big enough to wear her brother's shoes.
  • Shouldn't We Be in School Right Now?: Surprisingly and regularly Averted as John Hughes High School is a prominent setting.
  • Shout-Out: In the episode where CeCe's mom and Coach go out, we get this:
    Coach: I was babysitting my niece this weekend, and she begged me to turn on her favorite show. Guess what it was.
    CeCe: Wizards Of...
    Coach: Shake It Up Chicago.
    • According to Gunther, the twelfth thing on CeCe's list of things to do before she's 16 is to have werewolves and vampires fight over her.
      • CeCe's list of things to do before she's 16 might itself be a Shout Out to 16 Wishes, a highly successful Disney Channel Original Movie of the time starring one of the cast from The Suite Life on Deck.
    • The girls attend John Hughes Junior High, home of the Bulldogs.
    • CeCe often uses Hannah Montana's "Ya think?" Catchphrase.
    • "Calling All The Monsters" plays in "Beam It Up"'s dance number, and an instrumental version is used in "Fire It Up".
      • And again during the prison dance sequences in "Fire It Up", though it's only the instrumentals this time. More properly, it's a Shout Out to prison courtyard recreation of Michael Jackson's Thriller made popular on YouTube.
      • It also shows up in "Made in Japan" during the karaoke scene.
    • The episode "Home Alone It Up".
    • In "Stress It Up", Flynn and Deuce's favorite snack food Spongi Cakes is ceasing production, so they buy the last case of them in Chicago and plan to ration them for 'Spongi Cake worthy' moments. This was almost the exact plot of the Seinfeld episode, "The Sponge" (which was about contraceptive devices instead of snack cakes).
    • In Future it Up the waitress Brenda looks like, and snarks like Max after 22 years.
  • In "Wild It Up", this exchange occurs between Rocky and a teacher:
    Teacher: What are you rebelling against, Blue?
    Rocky: Whadda ya got?.
  • Show Within a Show:
    • Shake It Up Chicago.
    • Teen Court.
    • True Teen Life.
  • Shown Their Work: Rocky's quip about shrimp from "Party It Up" is accurate - those aren't veins.
  • Silent Snarker: Rocky, especially when Ty brags.
    • When CeCe is lying to her gym coach about her injured leg, we see reaction shots of Rocky scoffing and rolling her eyes.
  • Slippery Slope Fallacy: Rocky commits this fallacy once in "Start It Up", regarding energy drinks. She does this again in "Wild It Up", regarding cutting class.
  • Somebody Doesn't Love Raymond: Rocky Blue is particularly adamant that everyone likes her, and spends an entire episode trying to win the favor of the cantankerous old witch Mrs. Locassio.
  • Spaghetti Kiss: CeCe and Rocky almost share a Spaghetti Kiss while eating a giant meatball on a big plate of spaghetti in "Meatball It Up". It was a funny Les Yay.
  • Speak Now or Forever Hold Your Peace: Flynn objects to his mother marrying Jeremy when he catches his parents kissing the night before the wedding.
  • Spiritual Successor: To Hannah Montana and, to a degree, Sonny with a Chance. Zendaya has even said the similarities to Hannah are intentional.
  • Spit Take: Played for Laughs. In "Age It Up", both CeCe and Rocky hear something outrageous, pause for a second, take a swig of water, and do a spit take.
  • Status Quo Is God: The entire 3rd season ran this way.Shake It Up! Chicago burns down. A few episodes later, it was rebuilt. However, Gary Wilde is fired with Ty Blue as the new host, and Rocky is no longer a dancer. A few episodes later, both Gary and Rocky return to their respected positions on the show, though Ty still keeps his position and has to share it with Gary. There was even a marriage story arc involving Georgia Jones but even that didn't go anywhere. The irony of that? CeCe marries Logan instead.
  • Sudden School Uniform: in "Protest It Up". CeCe did not take the news well. Gunther and Tinka, on the other hand, had over-the-top amounts of free time opened up by no longer coming up with over-the-top outfits on a daily basis.
  • Take That!: Against Child Beauty Pageants.
  • Taking the Bullet: The last part of Cece's dream in "Switch it Up" has Rocky about to drop a safe on Ty's head, but Cece pushes him away and takes the hit.
  • Talent Contest: Averted - odd for a show that focuses so much on singing and dancing, there's yet to be an actual episode that truly follows the spirit of the trope (the closest two is in "Auction It Up", but that was almost strictly an endurance test, and the Beauty Pageant episode, though that was a straight-up beauty pageant). However, the Make Your Mark Spin-Off competition certainly counts as a Real Life example.
  • Teacher/Parent Romance: Georgia goes on a date with CeCe's gym teacher, Coach Lessor. CeCe is disgusted by this at first, but then sees it as a saving grace when Lessor considers letting CeCe off the hook for faking an injury earlier in the episode. It ends up backfiring, however, when the date ends very badly making Lessor even harsher on CeCe than before.
  • Techno Babble: "Did you use the open-source software to save time and the virus was hidden inside it?" Since this actually is meaningful, the Internet was not pleased.
  • Thematic Theme Tune: "Shake It Up" sung by Disney Channel veteran Selena Gomez.
  • Token White: CeCe among her circle of friends.
    • Subverted backstage: Bella Thorne is actually Latina! CeCe is meant to be Caucasian, though.
  • Tomboy: Eileen in "Glitz It Up".
  • Tomboy and Girly Girl: According to Bella Thorne, CeCe and Rocky, respectively. However, recent episodes tend to have them randomly swap these roles, Depending on the Writer.
  • Tomboyish Name: Rocky. Just her name, thank you. Mostly.
  • Took a Level in Kindness: Tinka, after Gunther left. Now she has become best friends with Rocky and CeCe.
  • Trademark Favorite Food: Flynn and his bacon. At the end of the pilot, he comes home with several pounds of it.
  • Trailers Always Lie: The trailers for "Quit It Up" show the ending scene of the Shake It Up! Chicago set, without giving anything about the actual episode with CeCe's new job.
  • Trash the Set: Occurs in the Season 3 premiere of the show when the girls return from their trip to Japan to find the Shake It Up, Chicago set has burned down. Not the whole building, as they were able to get in, just the main set.
    • Could lead to a Rebuilt Set since details about future episodes indicate only a temporary shutdown of Shake It Up, Chicago and possibly an hour-long special to mark the return of the Show Within a Show.
      • If there is a Rebuilt Set, it could have had something to do with the stage itself. Bella Thorne stated earlier this year, during a Radio Disney Takeover, that the dance stage is both way smaller than it appears on television and really slick making it really difficult/dangerous to dance on sometimes.
  • TV Never Lies
    Flynn: Excuse me, it was on the internet. It must be true.
  • Two Lines, No Waiting: Often divided by gender, although Gunther could be used in either one.
  • The Unfair Sex: Dina towards Deuce, frequently. For instance, slapping him for kissing Rocky when it was her plan.
  • Under the Mistletoe: Deuce bribes Deuce into letting her into his family's caroling band with a kiss under a makeshift mistletoe (actually a piece of parsley).
    • Georgia and Jeremy get back together in "Merry Merry It Up" and kiss pretending that the crack on the ceiling is mistletoe.
  • Unlimited Wardrobe: Especially noticeable with CeCe and Rocky and Tinka and Gunther, due to their wacky fashions, though other characters may qualify. Justified though, as that's what they spend their Shake It Up Chicago money on.
  • Unusual Euphemism: In "I Do It Up", Rocky and Logan meet at Crusty's to discuss their kiss from the previous episode and Rocky suggests substituting the word "kiss" for "puppy".
    Logan: You gave me a puppy first.
    Rocky: But you gave me a puppy right back.
    Logan: Are you going to deny that you like the puppy?
  • Very Special Episode: "Add It Up", where we find out that CeCe has dyslexia (as does Bella Thorne in real life). This was essentially a special episode for her.
  • Voices Are Not Mental: In the "Freaky Friday" Flip episode, when CeCe and Flynn swap bodies, their voices stay with the original bodies and don't swap with them.
  • "Walk on the Wild Side" Episode: In one episode, Rocky is tired of her reputation as a perfect student and buzzkill and creates a 'bad girl' persona, including a leather jacket and different make-up.
  • Wearing a Flag on Your Head: CeCe is particularly fond of the Union Jack, and wears it on everything from jackets to karate uniforms.
  • Wham Line: "Gunther is...gone-ther."
  • What Are Records?: Flynn doesn't know what a jukebox is. When told it's a machine that plays records, he asks what records are. When told that they're like CD's, he doesn't know what those are either.
  • What the Hell Is That Accent?: Gunther and Tinka.
  • Why Waste a Wedding?: This happened in "I Do It Up", when Georgia and Jeremy decided to canceled their wedding as he wanted to have second thoughts about it, though her ex-husband J.J. insisted that should get back together.

 
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Shake it Up

Cece and Flynn switch bodies due to a curse accidentally used by Tinka.

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