Katja Koukkula and Jussi Väänänen, the first ever Eurovision Dance Contest winners, spoke to the media right after their victory, in the traditional Eurovision winner's press conference.
Katja and Jussi, a couple in life as well as onthe dance floor feel calm now that it is all over, they are getting ready for the big party tonight and they do not feel they will try to defend their title again next year.
How do you feel now?
We are actually feeling calm, happy and peaceful, maybe even a bit empty as everything is over now. We are waiting for the next things to happen now. When we arrived here, we didn't think of this success really.
What are you going to do tonight?
We will celebrate together with YLE, the Finnish broadcaster. And remember, we'll be boarding our plane tomorrow again and go back to Finland.
How does it feel to be the first Eurovision Dance Contest winner?
It is important to try to be yourself, and try to be true to your dancing. We would like to thank YLE and BBC for all the help they gave us.
Do you think the key to your success was the fact that your dances were different to the others, quite melancholic and near to the Finnish soul?
Yes, that's true. We also had very good teachers, and one of them is dead already, so we keep him special in our minds.
How long did you prepare your dances?
We started at the beginning of June and picked the music in July, so roughly 5 weeks' time.
How do you feel about YLE not hosting the event next year?
We are a bit disappointed, but maybe our national broadcaster YLE feels happy about it! We would like to stress though that BBC did a great job hosting this event for the first time ever.
What do you expect to achieve from this event?
It could bring some new opportunities for us and it's good publicity for us and it's also good for the dancing sport.
Would you like to defend your title next year?
No, we have won it already now, so we would not do it next year.
Is it true that you're a couple in real life and how do you feel about it when dancing?
Yes, that's true. Sometimes it's hard for us to separate dancing from our personal life.
How did you two meet?
We are from the same town and went to the same dancing clubs. We have now been dancing together for 13 years.
Lordi has won the Eurovision Song Contest, are you very much into heavy metal music yourself?
We would like to stress that we danced to Apocalyptica's The Unforgiven already 10 years ago with a different choreography and it's a song very near to our hearts. But yes, heavy metal is cool!
Have you seen the dances of any of the other contestants ?
No, we didn't, but we know that there were a lot of good dancers present.
Jaana Pelkonen,the Finnish commentator for YLE and hostess of the 2007 Eurovision Song Contest, told EurovisionDance.tv : "It is unbelievable, we really didn't expect this!" Asko Murtomäki, commentator for YLE: "We are lost for words, we are really happy!" The Finnish Head of Press, Aila Havia-Venäläinen: "We're going to have a great time at the after party now!"
