The arena at the B&W Hallerne in Copenhagen saw today the dress rehearsal for the first semi-final of the 2014 Eurovision Song Contest.

After the pleasant opening ceremony, the artists of the 2014 Eurovision Song Contest got back to work today for the first semi-final dress rehearsal.

Introduced by a video recap of Emmelie de Forest’s victory one year ago in Malmö and fan-made video, followed by the Danish winner presenting her country, the opening of the rehearsal continued to Emmelie performing her winning entry, Only teardrops, accompanied by a legion of extras that little by little filled the whole scene.

The three presenters, Nikolaj Koppel, Pilou Asbæk and Lise Rønne, thanked Sweden in a special way and called for the beginning of the show.

The postcard videos will show the participants making a special picture of their respective countries’ flags.

Aram Mp3 sang for Armenia in the first place. His flag was a piece of self-handcrafted jewelry. Not alone was supported by lights and color on the backdrop and fire surrounding the scene. The performance relies a lot on the special effects.

Latvia’s Aarzemnieki came second onto the stage. Their Cake to bake was on their postcard, too, as Latvian flag with berries. The band was spread walking around the scene while singing their entry and finished the performance all together at the center.

Before Tanja took the stage to sing and dance Amazing for Estonia, her postcard showed her building the country’s flag with containers using a port crane. She sang while performing her routine together with her dancer, both dressed in white, against an archway on the screens behind them.

Sweden pulled cheering from the audience when Sanne Nielsen reached the scene, dressed in black. Her construction of Swedish used yellow lilos on a swimming pool. Undo was sang against a black backdrop sparkled with lights, making it look like a starry night ski.

After a sweet ballad, Iceland‘s No prejudice and its cheerful tune was much of a change. The postcard showed the Icelandic flag projected on a curtain of snow. Pollapönk made plenty of use of colors, both on stage with their outfit and on the screens behind the band, while singing and dancing a peculiar routine.

Following a short break, Hersi Matmuja was seen having a double-headed eagle tattooed on her back for the Albanian flag. On stage, the artist sang One night’s anger for Albania in the fifth position standing on top of a long ramp. She was accompanied by a drummer and backing vocals behind her on the stage.

The Russian Tolmachevy Twins came next, their postcard being the picture of light columns with the Russian colors. Standing back to back on a platform, the sisters performed Shine while slowly getting stepping away from each other, revealing their hairdos tied in a knot that came apart with ease.

Azerbaijan‘s postcard was a display of photographic technique. Dilara Kazimova sang Start a fire as a trapeze artist was moving and hovering above her. The color red was seen quite often on the as part of a bleak backdrop, but a cathedral like pattern filled the scene at certain points of Dilara’s elegant performance.

Mariya Yaremchuk and her dancer in a wheel took the stage while the Ukrainian flag was built with yellow sticky-notes and a blue train. Tick-tock was sung by Mariya while her dancer Roman Blazhkiv made the wheel roll and roll in an energetic display of acrobatics.

Axel Hirsoux stood to sing Mother for Belgium. His vocal skills are renown already, but in his postcards we could see his knitting capabilities too as he wove his country’s flag. Isabelle Bernaert danced to Axel’s singing, which was decorated with a flowered pattern on the backdrop.

Moldova’s Cristina Scarlat painted the Moldovan colors on pottery in her postcard. She sang Wild soul in a powerful performance while a dark forest was see behind her.

It was then the turn of Valentina Monetta to sing for Maybe. The singer from San Marino painted the flag of her country on a canvas in her postcard. The audience could see Valentina standing on top of a platform in the middle of the scene, while a pianist and the backing singers were at the end of each walkway. White was the color that dominated the scene.

Another break was used to present this year’s Eurovision Song Contest trophy and it was followed by Portugal. In her postcard, Suzy had painted the colors of her flag on her. The stage was dominated by two big drums that shone with every beat while Quero ser tua was sung and danced by Suzy and her backing artists. Green and red decorated the backdrop is a festive tropical fashion.

The Common Linnets were next, for The Netherlands. The postcard was typically Dutch: red, white and blue tulips. Ilse DeLange and Waylon stood face to face to sing Calm after the storm in a soft, cute and elegant manner.

The next country in the rehearsal was Montenegro, whose flag was seen built up as a puzzle by the country’s representative Sergej Cetkovic. The singer came to the scene with the figure skater Jovana Stanisavljevićwho glided around the scene while Sergej performed his entry Moj Svijet.

The turn for the songs was closed by Hungary‘s András Kállay-Saunders, who sang Running sitting down at first, but then stood up to move around the scene. He had previously been seen making a Hungarian flag with Rubik’s cubes. A piano player and a dancer accompanied András on stage. The three of them got involved in a choreography that, in a way, tells the story of the song.

The voting time was enlivened with a ballet number inspired by Hans-Christian Andersen’s The Ugly Duckling and a special tour around Copenhagen, guided by Pilou Asbaek.

After a simulation of the results, the dress rehearsal was completed, waiting for the actual 1^st semi-final on Tuesday.

Stay tuned to esctoday.com for more news on the Eurovision Song Contest

Which 10 countries you want to proceed to the final?
Share your Top10 on the comments below!