One of the debutant countries of 2007, Georgia, has just finished their rehearsals and proved they are all ready for this event. Sapho and her dancers gave a show that looks very impressive on TV screens topped with fire works in the end.

You can watch the Georgian photo gallery here.

The stage is all lit in red and black for this Georgian entry and features petals of roses (or drops of blood?) falling down, simple but very beautiful. Sopho and her four dancers walk to the stage together and the dancers perform some rather demanding moves on stage througout the performance – from sword fighting to dancing on knees. Sopho herself joins in at times but mainly stays in front of the stage while giving a splendid vocal performance. Also Georgia opted for the fireworks and there will be several in the last part of the song.

There seemed to be some technical problems initially but they were fixed for the last performance. The spidercam and the other moving cameras are used in this number a lot.

PRESS CONFERENCE

The delegation started off with an apology – due to the energetic dancing, there was some damage to the stage which was quickly fixed, although this did cause a slight delay to the proceedings.

Sopho, speaking in Georgian through a translator, stressed what a great pleasure it was to represent Georgia on their debut entry. She was keen to impress upon the press what a beautiful country Georgia is, with a strong tradition of music and dancing which they now bring to the contest. But how popular is the contest itself in Georgia? Sopho answers: "For two years we have been watching the contest, and this year everyone is thrilled to see our own entry. I hope this will be a huge support for my country". The delegation also quite sharply pointed out that the weather in Georgia is very nice, no doubt trying to draw the comparison with the inclement Helsinki climate this week!

Sopho talked a little about her own music, and picked out samba and ballads as two of her key styles. She was invited to sing a typical Georgian song to the crowd, and obliged with a rich ballad – no doubt one of many impromtu acappella performances to hit the press conference circuit this May! She followed this up with an up-tempo English song from her album, and the crowd were more than happy to clap along. Her career actually began as a talented pianist, and the singer explained how she had moved on from that to her present incarnation as a vocalist.

Where did that dress go?
So, what happened to that big pink marshmallow dress from the national final? "It disappeared in the final – it just melted away so now we'll have a new dress!" Sophojoked."It'll be a surprise",she promised.

In the meantime,she feels no stress-"music is my love, my power, my energy…it's my Eurovisionary dream! We came here touring, so we'll go back happy."And what of the other songs? Serbia is a clear favourite for Sopho, with Finland and Poland not far behind.

The singer concluded the press conference by presenting hand-made wristbands made by children at an orphanage back in Tbilisi. As she hopes their dreams come true, many Georgian hope their Eurovision dream will also end in joy. Sopho ended on warm thanks to all her fans at home and abroad.