Eurovision Dance Contest

Eurovision Dance Contest
Genre	Dance contest
Created by	Richard Bunn
Presented by	Graham Norton Claudia Winkleman
Country of origin	List of countries
Original language	English and French
No. of episodes	2 contests
Production
Production location	List of host cities
Running time	2 hours (2007) 2 hours, 15 minutes (2008)
Production companies	European Broadcasting Union Splash Media Sunset + Vine
Distributor	Eurovision
Release
Picture format	576i (SDTV) 1080i (HDTV)
Original release	1 September 2007; 14 years ago (2007-09-01) – 6 September 2008; 13 years ago (2008-09-06)
Chronology
Related shows	Eurovision Song Contest Eurovision Young Musicians Eurovision Young Dancers Junior Eurovision Song Contest Eurovision Choir
External links
Official website
Production website

The Eurovision Dance Contest was an international ballroom dancing competition that was held for the first time in the United Kingdom on Saturday 1 September 2007.

The contest was similar in format to the long-running Eurovision Song Contest and was organized by both the Eurovision association and the International DanceSport Federation (IDSF).^[1] The IDSF credits the existence of the contest to Richard Bunn of rbi network,^[2] Geneva, former EBU controller of sport, who convinced the EBU to create the programme.^[3]

Format and general information[]

The competition consisted of pairs of dancers from each participating country, each pair performing one dance, a freestyle dance in which the cultures of the individual countries could be showcased to the rest of Europe. In addition to being evaluated by a panel of dance experts, the routines were judged by European audiences who cast their vote for their favourite couple via telephone or text messaging to determine winner of the competition. The BBC was "host broadcaster" for the first two contests in 2007 and 2008, the only contests to date.^[4]

Contests[]

2007[]

Eurovision Dance Contest 2007 was hosted in London, United Kingdom. In EDC 2007 each couple has performed two 1 minute 30 seconds dances: the first dance was a ballroom or Latin dance while the second was a freestyle dance. Professional dance couples were allowed to enter the competition. Finland won the competition.

2008[]

Several changes were introduced for Eurovision Dance Contest 2008 which was hosted in Glasgow, United Kingdom. Professional dance couples were no longer allowed, all pairs had to include one professional and one celebrity dancer. Only one, 2 minute dance, was performed by each couple. A professional jury was introduced to the competition having approximate weight of 20% of the outcome, while the remaining 80% came from televoting. Poland won the competition.^[5]

2009[]

The competition was to have been held for a third year, hosted this time in Baku, Azerbaijan, however in May 2009, it was announced the event had been postponed until 2010, due to insufficient broadcasters signing up to the event. The planned 2010 event was ultimately cancelled in January of that year, with the EBU citing "a serious lack of interest" in the contest. The competition has not been held since. Both professional and mixed couples of one amateur and one professional would have been eligible to compete, the same rules that had been in place for the 2007 contest.^[5]

Participation[]

Participation in the contest (2007–2008):

  Entered at least once

  Never entered, although eligible to do so

  Entry intended

When the competition was first planned, the aim was to begin with ten to twelve participating countries and expand in subsequent years. However, the response rate was greater than anticipated and it proved difficult to turn away the additional countries interested in participating in the event. For logistical reasons, a limitation on number of participants was established. In order to ensure the event was a success, the EBU invited participating broadcasters from member countries to take part. In several countries, where the EBU had more than one member, two broadcasters expressed interest. The final decision of which broadcaster would represent those countries was decided by either an internal accord by the two broadcasters, or by a draw, conducted by the EBU.^[6]

Sixteen countries; Austria, Denmark, Finland, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Lithuania, the Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Russia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Ukraine and the host country the United Kingdom all débuted in the very first Eurovision Dance Contest in 2007. The Croatian broadcaster HRT had expressed an interest in taking part,^[7] but did not appear on the final list of participants. In June 2008, Switzerland announced their withdrawal from the 2008 contest without specifying a reason, while Germany withdrew from the 2008 event the same month, due to comparatively low ratings for the 2007 contest in the country.^[8] Spain was originally due to take part in 2008, but withdrew in late August 2008 just days before the event, reportedly due to a scheduling clash with the country competing in a qualifying match for the FIFA World Cup 2010, which was taking place the same evening.^[9] In accordance with the rules, Spanish broadcaster TVE were obliged to broadcast the contest live due to their late withdrawal as an active participant.^[10] After Switzerland announced their non-participation, and with the format change meaning each couple would dance one one minute and forty five seconds dance each, new countries became eligible to join the event. Azerbaijan were the only country to join that year, but negotiations had taken place with broadcasters from Belarus and Cyprus.^[11]

Belarus intended on competing for the first time in 2009 but the contest was cancelled. Although the 2009 contest never happened Austria, Finland, Lithuania, Sweden and the Netherlands had confirmed they would not compete in the third contest.

Year	Country making its debut entry	Participating broadcaster
2007	Austria	ORF
	Denmark	DR
	Finland	Yle
	Germany	WDR (ARD)
	Greece	ERT
	Ireland	RTÉ
	Lithuania	LRT
	Netherlands	TROS (NPO)
	Poland	TVP
	Portugal	RTP
	Russia	RTR (2007) C1R (2008)
	Spain	TVE
	Sweden	TV4
	Switzerland	SRG SSR
	Ukraine	NTU
	United Kingdom	BBC
2008	Azerbaijan	İTV

Hosting[]

Most of the expense of the contest is covered by commercial sponsors and contributions from the other participating nations. The contest is considered to be a unique opportunity for promoting the host country as a tourist destination. The table below shows a list of cities and venues that have hosted Eurovision Dance Contest, one or more times.

Winners[]

Map showing each country's number of wins

The contest differs from the Eurovision Song Contest in that the winning country does not automatically become host for the next contest.^[6] The Eurovision Dance Contest followed the same host selection process as the Junior Eurovision Song Contest.

Year	Date	Host city	Winner	Dancers	Dance style	Points	Margin
2007	1 September	London	Finland	Katja Koukkula and Jussi Väänänen	Rumba and Paso Doble	132	11
2008	6 September	Glasgow	Poland	Edyta Herbuś and Marcin Mroczek	Rumba, Cha-cha-cha and Jazz Dance	154	33

Top three placings[]

Country				Total	Years won
Finland	1	0	0	1	2007
Poland	1	0	0	1	2008
Ukraine	0	1	1	2
Russia	0	1	0	1
Ireland	0	0	1	1

See also[]

References[]

External links[]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Eurovision Dance Contest.

• Official Eurovision Dance Contest website
• EBU Press Release
• International DanceSport Federation official website
• ESCKaz Eurovision Dance Contest pages (English/Russian)