On a chilly, cloudy Saturday in November 2014, Marquette University School of Dentistry was jamming to Taylor Swift. In the hallways and elevators, on countertops and operatory chairs, dental students were dancing away to one of Swift’s most popular and recognizable songs. What began as a student’s idea to show off the dental school to friends and family in a music video caught fire — and started a legacy.
Ten years later, as that video approaches 7.5 million YouTube views and all the students who took part are now practicing dentists, the tradition of the Marquette Dental School music video lives on. But this isn’t a story about this year’s 10th anniversary video. This is about how “Shake It Off (#marquetteasda style)” went viral.
The idea
In 2013, Marquette’s American Student Dental Association chapter president recruited Jay Banez to join ASDA. Known as a social butterfly during lab and in clinic, Banez started a social media and communication committee. It was the committee’s idea to create a lip sync video to put on YouTube, with Banez directing.
Dr. Jay Banez, Dent ’16: We were thinking of making it quite simple at first, but then a couple of our committee members were like, “Let’s incorporate some dancing into the mix.” We had a couple dancers in our class and the classes below me who danced in the past or in clubs on campus — ballroom, ballet, hip-hop dancing.
Dr. Emma (Soweja) Gross, Dent ’18: I’ve been dancing my whole life, and my strength was choreographing big group routines — easy moves that people could pick up quickly. Jay sent out an email to my class and was like, “If anybody knows how to choreograph, we’re making this video and we want your help.”
Swift released “Shake It Off” on Aug. 19, 2014, reaching the top of the U.S. Billboard Hot 100. Less than a year earlier, the School of Dentistry opened a 40,000-square-foot expansion and clinic renovation.
Banez: It was a hot song of the summer. People really like the upbeat nature of it. We thought maybe we could get Taylor Swift to repost it on her socials. (Author’s note: Swift has not shared the video).
The filming
Banez: I made storyboards. And I was the cameraman. I would walk the whole dental school by myself with my headphones in, playing “Shake It Off” over and over to visualize it. We wanted to highlight different parts of the dental school — study rooms, the atrium, the clinics, the sim lab — and I needed to plan out where each big part would be.
We split it up into three groups and Emma, Winston (Feng) and Jonelle (Doctor-Urgena) choreographed each main part. For the walk-throughs, I had a Bluetooth speaker hooked to my beltloop. I think we might have gone through at least 10 tries to time things out. It was a lot of coordination. And I told people, “I’m going to be running backwards. I can’t see where you’re at. So, if you see me coming, get out of the way, but also keep doing what you’re doing.” But it only took us about three or four hours to do it.
Dr. Winston Feng, Dent ’18: I think we did it all in two takes, which I feel is pretty impressive. I remember the whole shooting process went a lot faster than we all thought it would.
Gross: It really all came together in one day. Wrangling people was a little stressful. We just tried to help Jay by keeping things orderly. It was definitely a chaotic day. There were so many moving parts. But people were really excited about the video in general. I think Jay’s enthusiasm was the main driving factor.
Banez: We wanted to release it during the holidays so students could go home and share the video with their families and friends. I think I posted it the week of Thanksgiving. A few days later, [local ABC news affiliate] WISN reached out.
The reaction
WISN-TV (ABC 12) ran an interview with Banez in its 4 p.m., 6 p.m. and 10 p.m. news shows the day after the video was published, he says. The local CBS and NBC news affiliates ran stories later that week.
Banez: I was back home in Las Vegas for Thanksgiving, and I was just looking at the view counts going up and up and up over that four-day weekend. I was like, “Holy crap, I think we have something here.” By the time Christmas came, I think we were around the 20,000-view count. We didn’t realize it was going to go viral and become what it is today.
There are two moments from the video that people would always bring up: The twins, Austin and Ryan Dodge, because it’s very rare that you get twins who are dental students who go to the same school, and they start out the video. And Danny Cepeda, the dude with the big mustache.
Dr. Daniel Cepeda, Dent ’16: I had no intention of being in the video. That day, I showed up for a total of five minutes to bring [my friend] Emily a snack and got roped into doing a “practice shot.” Turns out it was the final shot.
Feng: A lot of that day is a blur, but my most memorable scene is when Jonelle and I were in the clinic and people were dancing on top of tables.
Banez: Some of the faculty and higher ups at the dental school did not like the video at first. They said that we shouldn’t have been standing on the dental chairs and counters.
Dr. William Lobb, former dental school dean: Afterward, some of the faculty probably said, “What the heck are they doing up on the brand new chairs?” But I didn’t hear any complaints directly. I think [the video] was very positive and it really spoke to the creativity of the students.
The legacy
Banez: The “Shake If Off” video is what set off our ASDA chapter to be recognized on the national level. And I have to give credit to the dental students after us for keeping the tradition going. Year after year, they kept doing these videos.
Chris Cwieka, first-year dental student: When I was choosing which dental school to go to, my dad found the music videos and said, “They seem like a ton of fun. If you go there, make sure you do it.” So here we are.
Feng: By year three, we had a ton of faculty and staff involved. That was really cool. Even the president was in the videos.
Lobb: They kept trying to get me to do it, but I don’t dance. I’d have a cameo part. Then President Lovell got interested, so I let him do the dancing and he was happy to do that. It was always kind of surprising that Dr. Lovell liked to be front and center in the video.
Gross: It’s one of my favorite memories of dental school. And I look forward to the new one coming out every year.
Kirstin Marcks, third-year dental student and 2024 music video director: It’s just keeping the positive energy. All the music videos we’ve made are to have fun and to show people that we’re not just a bunch of workaholics.
Banez: Other schools were following suit years after, making their own lip sync or holiday videos. I feel like we were the trendsetters and the trailblazers. To see that legacy continue on is a credit to ASDA and our whole school that year to kind of set the path for future. For it to continue for the past decade is really cool.
Marcks: I hope we get to 7 million views someday. That’d be awesome.
Presenting the 2024 Marquette ASDA music video, set to Dolly Parton’s “9 to 5”:
