Tonight: Eurovision Dance Contest 2007!

by Marcus Klier 350 views

Tonight's the night: the first edition of the Eurovision Dance Contest will be held in London! 16 couples are going to compete against each other and it is the audience who will choose the winner.

The show

The show will be heldat the BBC television centre in London at 21:00 CET. Claudia Winkleman and Graham Norton will host the competition in English and French and every country will have its own two commentators. Enrique Iglesias, son of the 1970 Spanish Eurovision Song Contest representative Julio Iglesias, will perform the interval act.

The rules

Each of the 16 competing countries has chosen a dancing couple which can either contain two professional dancers or one professional dancer and one other VIP (like in Strictly Come Dancing). The couples perform two dances each, while the first has to be one of the five international Standard dances (Slow Foxtrot, Slow Waltz, Vienesse Waltz, Quickstep and Tango) or one of the five international Latin dances (Samba, Rumba, Jive, Paso Doble and Cha-cha-cha). The second performance will be a freestyle which can be based on any dance but has to contain some elements typical for the country it represents. Already during and after the 32 performances, you can vote for your favourite by telephone and SMS but, of course, not for the couple representing the country you are calling from. The voting will be held in "Eurovision" style with points from 1-8, 10 and 12 being added on a scoreboard.

The countries & performances

Most countries, 15 out of 16 actually, have chosen a Latin dance for their first performance. The songs the dances will performed to are broadly based: There will be classicsand modern songs, instrumental tunes and vocal tunes, American and European music.

Broadcasters

Due to the state of emergency which has been declared, Greek broadcaster ERT will not air the show live. The other competing countries will broadcast the show live as well as the broadcasters in Armenia (ARMTV), Albania (RTSH), Belarus (BTRC), Bosnia & Herzegovina (BHRT), F.Y.R. Macedonia (MKRTV), Iceland (RÚV) Israel (IBA).

The running order

  1. Switzerland: Denise Biellmann & Sven Ninnemann
  2. Russia: Maria Sittel & Vladislav Borodinov
  3. Netherlands: Alexandra Matteman & Redmond Valk
  4. United Kingdom: Camilla Dallerup & Brendan Cole
  5. Austria: Kelly Kainz & Andy Kainz
  6. Germany: Wolke Hegenbarth & Oliver Seefeldt
  7. Greece: Ourania Kolliou & Spiros Pavlidis
  8. Lithuania: Gabrielë Valiukaitë & Gintaras Svistunavicius
  9. Spain: Amagoya Benlloch & Abraham M. Fernandez
  10. Ireland: Nicola Byrne & Mick Donegan
  11. Poland: Katarzyna Cichopek & Marcin Hakiel
  12. Denmark: Mette Elkjær & David Jørgensen
  13. Portugal: Sónia Arújo & Ricardo Silva
  14. Ukraine: Yulia Okropiridze & Illya Sydorenko
  15. Sweden: Cecilia Ehrling & Martin Lidberg
  16. Finland: Katja Koukkula & Jussi Väänänen

So… enjoy the show!