Shaking it up with Zendaya
Kidsday reporters Julia Jassey and Jessica Felber from Candlewood Middle School in Dix Hills with Dancing with the Stars Contestant Zendaya at the AP offices in Manhattan. (May 24, 2013) Credit: Newsday / Pat Mullooly
We talked with Zendaya while she was in Manhattan recently. She plays Rocky Blue on "Shake It Up!" and was just great last season on "Dancing With the Stars." We thought she should have won it all!
I wouldn't because I'm very young in my life, and I think I've made some pretty good decisions so far, and I feel I have a lot more to do. So I think things are going really good, so I probably wouldn't change anything.
That's a tough one. I think I learned a lot of new moves being on that show. But there's this one called the New Yorker, and it's a ballroom dancing move, and it's pretty tough, but I did them in the cha-cha a lot, and we did them over and over and over again, and I think it looks really cool when you do it right.
"DWTS." "DWTS" makes "Shake It Up!" seem like the easiest thing ever. "Shake It Up!" is like school. It's like going to school. Sometimes it hard, and [sometimes] it's easy. But it's pretty much pretty smooth. This is like "DWTS," not like other stuff. It was super hard.
"That's So Raven," for sure. I think it's one of the funniest . . . shows that's ever been on the Disney Channel.
I would say sleeping -- I'm really, really good at it. I like to do it on my days off. I think it requires a lot of dedication; you have to really take time to do it. So anytime I do get, I definitely try to do it. I can be an Olympic sleeper, actually.
I think the fact that we have a really cool chemistry, and I think it really comes through on the screen. You can kind of see that we really work well together, and I think we really understand our characters very well, and you can definitely tell.
I think Michael Jackson was definitely a big influence in my dancing. I think because obviously he is the best pop artist ever. So I mean there's that factor of him being such an amazing artist; but I think he kind of created a new way of dancing as well, which we use a lot today. "Pop-a-Lock" stuff. I think he was one of those originators of some really original things and moves that we really think are cool now.
Oh, man, that's tough because sometimes I wish I was Alex Russo and could just like snap my fingers and make stuff appear. And other times, I wish I was Hannah Montana and I can like take off a wig and be two different people. So I don't know, honestly. I think I would be a little bit of both.
I think I like them equally because they're all equally parts of myself . . . without them, I wouldn't really be who I am.
I'm not dating anybody; I'm very focused on my career right now. And recently this year, I was technically allowed to date, but just because you're allowed to date doesn't mean you could be like "I'm going to date everybody." So I'm . . . just cruising.
There isn't, because I am a regular kid. I think a lot of people like to think that -- because I'm a regular kid with a regular lifestyle. So I don't wish, because I am. I don't have to wish for anything that already is here.
It was awesome. He is a really great inspiration, and he's a very hard worker, and I definitely consider him family now.
I want to be known as just a general lady of the arts. I want people to associate me with all things positive and all things that have to do with just entertainment in general. I want to be a Renaissance woman.
Everyone from obviously "Shake It Up!" I'm very close with, and I consider them my family, and I think that's a really awesome thing. There's Debbie Ryan and some from other shows. So I think they're really awesome, very sweet. I think all the Disney kids are really awesome.
Michael Jackson. I would cut off a toe to meet him. If there was any kind of way to do that, because I think he's such an inspiration to me and many people, and I would just want five minutes just to say that I love him and talk to him and just hear his voice, and I just want him to say "Zendaya" and everything would be happy in my world.
My favorite type of dancing is probably hip-hop, for sure, because it's what I know. Even though I've learned lots of ballroom, I think I definitely could learn to love it, but it's my first love.
I get stage fright sometimes. I don't really get stage fright that much anymore. I did like the first few episodes of "DWTS," and toward the end because it was really stressful, and I really wanted it to be good.
I think that's the thing: I don't really have like any crazy inside thing. I try to be very open, especially with my fans, and I'm basically like this all the time, and I try to keep pretty real so that people can understand who I am as a person. So there's nothing really too crazy. Everybody knows I'm obsessed with ice cream; everybody knows that I don't eat very healthy. Everybody knows that kind of stuff. I'm pretty open.
I would say if you really, really truly love it, I think you should do it and do it bit by bit. Get some experience and just start off small. Maybe it's like little things in your community, little things in your school, just little stuff just to get you started and work on from there.
Well, first of all, Zendaya doesn't go out with anyone, because I'm really boring. When I have time off, I would rather spend the day in my room eating ice cream than doing anything with anybody because that's just who I am. I think that's not something that's a priority to me, and I think, I wish I could pick whoever I wanted, and I wish I could just date whoever, but it doesn't really happen. Obviously Channing Tatum is not available at the moment. But it's OK.
