Today, ERT, the Greek broadcaster, held a press conference to introduce the country's contestants in the first Eurovision Dance Contest to be held in London on September 1, 2007. Spyros Pavlidis and Rania Koliou will be dancing to the rhythm of Blues Brothers Everybody needs somebody to love and Zorba by Mikis Theodorakis, the renowned Greek composer.
With the possibility of Dancing becoming an Olympic sport, as Juan Antonio Samarang recently mentioned, there is great potential for the sport worldwide. Although ballroom dancing in Greece is still quite unknown, ERT are determined to make an effort to put on a good show in this year's first Eurovision Dance Contest. The 2007 Greek participants have been internally selected as there was practically no time to do otherwise, but ERT are already considering next year's moves with the possibility of a televised series of shows that will determine the 2008 Greek representatives. The entire budget for 2007 will be about €50.000.
Greece will be represented by Rania Koliou and Spyros Pavlidis, both from Athens. Spyros has been dancing since the age of 6 and Rania moved from volleyball to dancing six years ago. They have been dancing together for almost 2 years now and they were the runnerups in the March 2007 Greek Dancing Cup. When the winners broke up and refused to reunite for the Eurovision Dance Contest Rania and Spyros got the golden ticket to London.
What Spyros, jokingly, likes most about Rania is her hair and Rania believes that Spyros is a star that is about to shine. "He is an energy bomb, same as me" she laughed.
Mitko Dimitrov, who has choreographed the Greek entry and coaches Spyros and Rania spoke to esctoday.com in detail about what we will be seeing in London. Mitko is the Bulgarian and Greek champion in the Five Dance Latin Professional category and he has been coaching couples for the largest Greek and international contests in Blackpool, UK, Stuttgart, Germany and Italy among others.
"In the first part, Rania and Spyros will be dancing to the Blues Brothers' song Everybody needs somebody to love. We chose this song for two reasons mainly. One is because of it is a very exciting tune and the second is that it suits the dancers' personalities perfectly." Says Mitko. : "I know both dancers very well, they are great fun, they joke a lot and one has a fantastic time with them, so the song suits them perfectly". "There will be a lot of athletic elements in the choreography", Mitko continued, "a lot of jive, theatrical as well as comical elements".
As for the second part they went for something traditionally Greek but with a twist. Mikis Theodorakis' Zorba will be choreographed with paso doble, modern and classic dance elements added, something which Mitko expects to surprise or even shock the audience. "The most important thing for us is for the two dancers to thoroughly enjoy what they will be doing on stage and that will hopefully come across to the European audiences." As for the competition from the other participating countries Mitko, Spyros and Rania are not worried "All countries are sending great couples, we do not think or worry about that. All we aim for is an honest and authentic show that people will love and remember. As for the placing we get in the end…….God knows!" they laugh
You can visit the official ERT Eurovision Dance Contest site here. (In Greek)
Click here to see the esctoday.com photo gallery from today's press conference.
