Raquel Tavares and João Tiago are the names of the pair who will dance for Portugal at the 2008 edition of the Eurovision Dance Contest. Raquel is a well-known fado singer and Joao is a professional dancer.
The entrants were presented to the Portuguese audience at the final of Dança Comigo, the local version of Dancing with the Stars. Yesterday saw the grand finale of the fourth season and the over all winner was Vítor Fonseca. He was one of the members ofthe boy band D'ZRT who have been very successful in the last few years.
Raquel Tavares accepted the invitation from RTP and is very excited and also nervous because she is not a dancer. She is a fado singer from the new generation of singers who have appeared in the music scene in Portugal. Her take on fado is following the footsteps from the roots of this typical Portuguese song. She is often compared to Severa,a singer which embodies the traditional fado characteristics. She performs often abroad and has had a quite successful career in Portugal.In 2005 she received a Best Newcomer Award and in 2006 the Amalia Rodrigues Award. She has recently released her latest album 'Bairro'. João Tiago is one of the dancers who took part every week in the galas of Dança Comigo. He has also participated in various dance competitions.
The Eurovision Dance Contest is scheduled for 6 September in Glasgow. In 2007, the pair Sónia Araújo and Ricardo Silva achieved the 5th place alsongside Austria. They were the highest ranked couple where one of the members was not a professional dancer.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QicwoJ0P30s&ap=%2526fmt%3D18&rel=0
