Eurovision Dance Contest 2007

The Eurovision Dance Contest 2007 was the inaugural edition of the Eurovision Dance Contest, a dance competition co-production between the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) and host broadcaster BBC. The first ever pan-European dance competition was held on 1 September 2007 in London, United Kingdom with the participation of 16 countries.

Eurovision Dance Contest 2007
Dates
Final1 September 2007
Host
VenueBBC Television Centre, London, United Kingdom
Presenter(s)Graham Norton
Claudia Winkleman
DirectorNikki Parsons
Executive supervisorTal Barnea
Executive producer
Host broadcasterBritish Broadcasting Corporation (BBC)
Participants
Number of entries16
Debuting countries
  •  Austria
  •  Denmark
  •  Finland
  •  Germany
  •  Greece
  •  Ireland
  •  Lithuania
  •  Netherlands
  •  Poland
  •  Portugal
  •  Russia
  •  Spain
  •  Sweden
  •   Switzerland
  •  Ukraine
  •  United Kingdom
  • frameless}}Austria in the Eurovision Dance ContestDenmark in the Eurovision Dance ContestFinland in the Eurovision Dance ContestGermany in the Eurovision Dance ContestGreece in the Eurovision Dance ContestIreland in the Eurovision Dance ContestLithuania in the Eurovision Dance ContestNetherlands in the Eurovision Dance ContestPoland in the Eurovision Dance ContestPortugal in the Eurovision Dance ContestRussia in the Eurovision Dance ContestSpain in the Eurovision Dance ContestSweden in the Eurovision Dance ContestSwitzerland in the Eurovision Dance ContestUkraine in the Eurovision Dance ContestUnited Kingdom in the Eurovision Dance Contest
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         Participating countries
Vote
Voting systemEach country awards 1–8, 10, and 12 points to their 10 favourite acts.
Winning dancers Finland
Katja Koukkula and Jussi Väänänen
Eurovision Dance Contest → 2008

Viewers cast their votes by telephone and SMS text message voting on each couple's two dances – the first being ballroom or Latin with the second being freestyle, with a "national" flavour. Professional dance couples were allowed to enter the competition. Comedian Graham Norton and Claudia Winkleman presented the 2007 contest from the BBC Television Centre in London. Enrique Iglesias performed a medley of "Tired of Being Sorry" and "Do You Know? (The Ping Pong Song)" during the interval.

The first ever winners of the contest were Katja Koukkula and Jussi Väänänen of Finland who received a total of 132 points. 2nd place went to Ukraine, 3rd to Ireland, 4th to Poland and 5th place to Austria following a tie with Portugal, who also received 74 points.

Location

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BBC Television Centre, London - host venue of the 2007 contest.

Alongside the announcement as host broadcaster, the host city, venue and presenters for the contest were announced by the BBC on 13 April 2007.[1]

The host venue was the BBC Television Centre, White City, London, which opened in 1960. It is one of the most readily recognisable facilities of its type having appeared as the backdrop for many BBC programmes. It remained to be one of the largest such facilities in the world until it closed in March 2013.[2] In September 2017, BBC Studioworks re-opened the three studios at Television Centre, alongside a range of post-production facilities and ancillary areas.[3]

Television Centre previously hosted the Eurovision Song Contest 1963 after France, which won the year before, declined to host it due to financial shortcomings, also having hosted the competition in 1959 and 1961.[4] The last time the United Kingdom hosted one of the Eurovision's network Family of Events was the Eurovision Young Dancers 2001, which was also held in London.[5]

Format

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Host broadcaster

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The contest was hosted by the BBC, and was a co-production by Splash Media – run by the developers of its successful Strictly Come Dancing format – and sports production house Sunset Vine – with help from the International DanceSport Federation and in association with the European Broadcasting Union.[6]

The contest was broadcast in English and French languages, although France did not take part.[7] Each broadcaster also had the option of providing its own commentators at the event.

Visual design

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The logo of 2007 Contest features the word Eurovision written in the same way as it is on the Eurovision Song Contest logos without the heart but included the silhouette of a dancing couple in front of a star that contains the flag of the host country, the United Kingdom.[8]

Running order

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The running order for the 16 participants was announced on 6 August 2007 and had been determined in two steps. In the first round, the participating countries were drawn into groups, under supervision of an auditor. In the second round, the producers of the contest determined the final running order within the drawn groups to assure variety in the live show.[9]

Interval act

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Enrique Iglesias performed as the interval act.

Singer Enrique Iglesias, son of Spain's 1970 Eurovision entrant Julio Iglesias, performed a medley of "Tired of Being Sorry" and "Do You Know? (The Ping Pong Song)" as the interval act.[10][11] The performance was pre-recorded before the live show.[12]

Participants

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On 18 January 2007, the EBU officially announced the creation of this new dance contest. At the time, fourteen countries had already expressed their interest in taking part, with a production meeting taking place the day before in London.[13] On 13 April, BBC News Online incorrectly reported that thirteen countries would compete in the upcoming inaugural contest that autumn; these being Austria, Denmark, Finland, Germany, Ireland, Netherlands, Portugal, Russia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Ukraine and United Kingdom.[14] Greece, Lithuania and Poland were not included in the list despite being confirmed as participants. The Croatian broadcaster HRT was one of the 14 countries that had initially expressed an interest in taking part (alongside Ukraine),[15] but pulled out due to costs and scheduling problems.[citation needed]

Due to the forest fires in Greece, the Greek national broadcaster ERT did not air the show live and therefore used a back-up jury instead of televoting.[16]

Austria and Portugal both finished with the same number of points, however, Austria received points from every other participating nation thus receiving points from more countries than Portugal, hence Austria took 5th place.

R/O Country Dancers[17] Dance Styles[17] Place[18] Points[18]
Dance 1 Dance 2
01    Switzerland Denise Biellmann and Sven Ninnemann [de] Paso Doble Swing 16 0
02   Russia Mariya Sittel and Vladislav Borodinov Rumba Paso Doble 7 72
03   Netherlands Alexandra Matteman and Redmond Valk Cha-Cha-Cha Rumba 12 34
04   United Kingdom Camilla Dallerup and Brendan Cole Rumba Freestyle 15 18
05   Austria Kelly [de] and Andy Kainz [de] Jive Paso Doble 5 74
06   Germany Wolke Hegenbarth and Oliver Seefeldt [de] Samba dance Freestyle 8 59
07   Greece Ourania Kolliou and Spiros Pavlidis Jive Sirtaki 13 31
08   Lithuania Gabrielė Valiukaitė and Gintaras Svistunavičius Paso Doble Traditional Lithuanian Folk Dance 11 35
09   Spain Amagoya Benlloch and Abraham Martinez Cha-Cha-Cha Paso Doble 10 38
10   Ireland Nicola Byrne and Mick Donegan Jive Fandango 3 95
11   Poland Katarzyna Cichopek and Marcin Hakiel [pl] Cha-Cha-Cha Showdance 4 84
12   Denmark Mette Skou Elkjær and David Jørgensen Rumba Showdance 9 38
13   Portugal Sónia Araújo and Ricardo Silva Jive Tango 6 74
14   Ukraine Yulia Okropiridze and Illya Sydorenko Quickstep Showdance 2 121
15   Sweden Cecilia Ehrling and Martin Lidberg Paso Doble Disco Fusion 14 23
16   Finland Katja Koukkula and Jussi Väänänen Rumba Paso Doble 1 132

Scoreboard

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The following 16 countries took part,[7] and received the scores shown below.

Voting results[19]
Voting procedure used:
  100% televoting
  100% jury vote
Total score
Switzerland
Russia
Netherlands
United Kingdom
Austria
Germany
Greece
Lithuania
Spain
Ireland
Poland
Denmark
Portugal
Ukraine
Sweden
Finland
Contestants
Switzerland 0
Russia 72 3 10 3 7 6 4 5 4 8 12 10
Netherlands 34 5 7 2 12 2 3 3
United Kingdom 18 3 5 7 3
Austria 74 7 3 5 2 10 2 3 3 4 6 8 5 5 4 7
Germany 59 10 5 6 10 7 5 7 6 1 2
Greece 31 2 4 1 5 4 5 4 2 1 2 1
Lithuania 35 1 6 4 12 1 1 6 3 1
Spain 38 6 2 2 7 12 4 5
Ireland 95 1 10 7 8 6 3 1 8 5 10 12 3 8 7 6
Poland 84 4 8 4 7 8 12 1 6 10 4 10 10
Denmark 38 1 1 6 7 2 3 4 2 8 4
Portugal 74 12 6 8 3 2 8 8 2 12 2 3 6 2
Ukraine 121 3 12 10 12 5 6 5 12 8 6 12 6 7 5 12
Sweden 23 1 1 1 7 5 8
Finland 132 8 7 12 4 12 4 10 10 10 8 8 10 10 7 12

12 points

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Below is a summary of all 12 points in the contest:

N. Contestant Nation(s) giving 12 points
5   Ukraine   Finland,   Lithuania,   Poland,   Russia,   United Kingdom
3   Finland   Austria,   Netherlands,   Sweden
2   Portugal   Spain,    Switzerland
1   Ireland   Denmark
  Lithuania   Ireland
  Netherlands   Greece
  Poland   Germany
  Russia   Ukraine
  Spain   Portugal

Spokespersons

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The order in which each country announced their votes was done in alphabetical order of each countries. The spokespersons are shown alongside each country.[17][16]

  1.   Austria – Peter L. Eppinger [de]
  2.   Denmark – Louise Wolff [dk]
  3.   Finland – Johanna Pirttilahti [fi]
  4.   Germany – Alice and Ellen Kessler
  5.   Greece – George Amyras
  6.   Ireland – Pamela Flood
  7.   Lithuania – Lavija Šurnaitė-Kairienė [lt]
  8.   Netherlands – Marcus van Teijlingen
  9.   Poland – Ewelina Kopic [pl]
  10.   Portugal – Marta Leite de Castro [pt]
  11.   Russia – Like Kremer [ru]
  12.   Spain – Jesús Álvarez Cervantes [es]
  13.   Sweden – Ulrica Bengtsson [sv]
  14.    Switzerland – Cécile Bähler [de]
  15.   Ukraine – Svetoslav Vlokh
  16.   United Kingdom – Kirsty Gallacher

Broadcasts

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Most countries sent commentators to London or commentated from their own country, in order to add insight to the participants and, if necessary, provide voting information.[20] Among the countries that took part, Albania, Armenia, Belarus, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Cyprus, Iceland, Israel and North Macedonia also broadcast the event without sending representatives.[21]

Broadcasters and commentators in participating countries
Country Broadcaster(s) Commentator(s) Ref(s)
  Austria ORF 1 Andi Knoll and Nicole Burns-Hansen [17][22]
  Denmark DR1 Sisse Fisker and Claus Larsen [17][23]
  Finland Yle TV2 Sirpa Suutari-Jääskö and Jaana Pelkonen [17][24]
  Germany Das Erste Peter Urban and Markus Sonyi [17][25]
  Greece NET, ERT World (delayed) Maria Kozakou and Iordanis Pavlidis [17]
  Ireland RTÉ One Marty Whelan and Michelle Alonzi [17][26]
  Lithuania LRT1 Beata Nicholson [lt] and Virginijus Visockas [17][27]
  Netherlands Nederland 1 Lucille Werner and Cor van de Stroet [nl] [17][28]
  Poland TVP2 Artur Orzech and Zbigniew St. Zasada [17]
  Portugal RTP1, RTP Internacional, RTP África Isabel Angelino [pt], Alberto Rodrigues and Marco de Camillis [17][29]
  Russia Russia-1, RTR-Planeta Anastasia Zavorotnyuk and Stanislav Popov [17]
  Spain TVE1, TVE Internacional Beatriz Pécker [es] and Joana Subirana [17][30]
  Sweden TV4 David Hellenius and Tony Irving [17][31]
   Switzerland SF 1 German: Sascha Ruefer [de] and Cécile Bähler [de] [17]
TSI 1 Italian: Sandy Altermatt [it] and Ruggero Sindico [32][better source needed]
  Ukraine Pershyi Natsionalnyi Timur Miroshnychenko and Oleksandra Myshko [17][33]
  United Kingdom BBC One Len Goodman and Bruno Tonioli [17][34]
Broadcasters and commentators in non-participating countries
Country Broadcaster(s) Commentator(s) Ref(s)
  Albania RTSH Leon Menkshi
  Armenia ARMTV Felix Khacatryan and Hrachuhi Utmazyan
  Belarus BTRC Dmitry Karas and Vladimir Parakhnevich [35]
  Bosnia and Herzegovina BHT 1 Dejan Kukrić [36]
  Cyprus CyBC 1 Melina Karageorgiou
  Iceland RÚV (40 minutes delay) Eva Maria Jonsdottir [32]
  Israel Channel 1 No commentary
  Macedonia MKRTV Milanka Rašić

Viewing figures

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Estimated viewership by country (in millions)
Country Viewership Ref(s)
  Austria 0.68 [32][37]
  Denmark 0.51 [32]
  Finland 0.38 [32]
  Germany 3.1 [32][37]
  Ireland 0.36 [32]
  Israel 0.08 [32][37]
  Lithuania ~0.65 [32]
  Netherlands 0.76 [32][37]
  Poland 4 [32]
  Portugal 1.4 [32]
  Russia ~2.4 [32]
  Spain 2.2 [32][37]
  Sweden 1.4 [32][37]
   Switzerland 0.35 (SRF 1) [32][37]
~0.02 (TSI 1)
  Ukraine ~0.3 [32]
  United Kingdom 3.8 [32][37]
Total ~23 [32]

See also

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References

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  1. ^ "BBC - Press Office - Taking the floor: Eurovision Dance Contest". www.bbc.co.uk. 13 April 2007. Retrieved 8 May 2019.
  2. ^ "Dyke accused of conflict of interest over £6m holding in rival TV firm". The Independent. London. 17 January 2000.[dead link]
  3. ^ Conway, David (9 February 2016). "Inside the refurbished Television Centre". BBC. Retrieved 16 August 2019.
  4. ^ "Eurovision Song Contest 1963". European Broadcasting Union. Retrieved 30 October 2017.
  5. ^ "Eurovision Young Dancers 2001: About the show". European Broadcasting Union. Retrieved 5 October 2014.
  6. ^ "BBC - Press Office - The last dance for Camilla and Brendan". www.bbc.co.uk. 4 July 2007. Retrieved 8 May 2019.
  7. ^ a b "EBU.CH :: Eurovision Dance Contest". Archived from the original on 12 January 2007.
  8. ^ Klier, Marcus (8 July 2007). "Eurovision Dance Contest: logo revealed". ESCToday.com. Retrieved 6 January 2023.
  9. ^ "Eurovision Dance Contest". 12 November 2007. Archived from the original on 12 November 2007. Retrieved 8 May 2019.
  10. ^ "News archives - Eurovision Dance Contest". www.enriqueonline.org. 2 September 2007. Retrieved 9 January 2023.
  11. ^ "Iglesias praises Eurovision as a learning moment". eurovision.tv. European Broadcasting Union. 11 October 2008. Retrieved 9 January 2023.
  12. ^ Klier, Marcus (1 September 2007). "Live: Eurovision Dance Contest 2007". ESCToday.com. Retrieved 9 January 2023.
  13. ^ Klier, Marcus (18 January 2007). "New: The Eurovision DANCE contest!". ESCToday.com. Retrieved 6 January 2023.
  14. ^ "Eurovision Dance Contest unveiled". BBC News. 13 April 2007. Retrieved 2 May 2010.
  15. ^ "Eurovision Song Contest". eurovision.tv. European Broadcasting Union. 17 January 2007. Archived from the original on 16 February 2007. Retrieved 9 May 2019.
  16. ^ a b Viniker, Barry (30 August 2007). "EDC voting spokespersons announced". ESCToday.com. Retrieved 16 June 2013.
  17. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s "Participants of the Eurovision Song Contest 2007". eurovision.tv. European Broadcasting Union. Archived from the original on 13 October 2007. Retrieved 3 June 2021.
  18. ^ a b Klier, Marcus (2 September 2007). "Finland wins the Eurovison Dance Contest". ESCToday. Retrieved 3 June 2021.
  19. ^ "Results of the Eurovision Song Contest 2007". eurovision.tv. European Broadcasting Union. Archived from the original on 13 October 2007. Retrieved 3 June 2021.
  20. ^ "Eurovision Dance Contest". 12 November 2007. Archived from the original on 12 November 2007.
  21. ^ Royston, Benny (29 August 2007). "Eurovision Dance Contest: Open!". ESCToday.com. Retrieved 6 January 2023.
  22. ^ ""Dancing Stars" tanzten sich auf Platz fünf". oesterreich.ORF.at. 2 September 2007. Retrieved 26 December 2020.
  23. ^ "Melodi Grand Prix har fået en dansepartner". DR. 9 August 2007. Retrieved 26 December 2020.
  24. ^ "Suomen edustajat Eurovision tanssikilpailuun valittu". Yle Uutiset. 25 August 2007. Retrieved 26 December 2020.
  25. ^ Cosack, Bettina (2 September 2007). "Unterhaltsam: der Eurovision Dance Contest in der ARD: Geschält und gehäutet". Berliner Zeitung (in German). Retrieved 24 December 2023.
  26. ^ "EUROVISION DANCE CONTEST 2007 ***New*** | RTÉ Presspack". presspack.rte.ie. Retrieved 26 December 2020.
  27. ^ "Eurovizijos šokių konkursas, Londonas (Jungtinė karalystė), I dalis". lrt.lt. 1 September 2007. Retrieved 26 December 2020.
  28. ^ "Untitled Document". Archived from the original on 25 April 2012. Retrieved 27 October 2011.
  29. ^ Portugal, Rádio e Televisão de. "1.º FESTIVAL EUROVISÃO DA DANÇA 2007 - Entretenimento - RTP". www.rtp.pt. Retrieved 26 December 2020.
  30. ^ Baragaño, Techu (31 August 2007). "Londres es hoy la sede del I Festival de Eurovisión del baile". El País. Retrieved 26 December 2020 – via elpais.com.
  31. ^ "Den sista dansen". Aftonbladet. 1 September 2007. Retrieved 28 December 2020.
  32. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s Mikheev, Andy (1 September 2007). "Eurovision Dance Contest 2007". News Archives (in English and Russian). ESCKaz.com. Retrieved 9 June 2013.
  33. ^ "Юлія Окропірідзе та Ілля Сидоренко стали другими у Європі!". NTU. Archived from the original on 30 October 2007. Retrieved 12 June 2013.
  34. ^ "Eurovision Dance Contest: Opens Tuesday". ESCToday.com. 24 August 2007. Retrieved 26 December 2020.
  35. ^ "Eurovision Dance for the first time in the air". www.tvr.by. 24 August 2007. Retrieved 11 January 2024.
  36. ^ "Uživo na BHT 1, subota 01.09.2007. od 21.00 sati" (in Bosnian). BHRT. Archived from the original on 24 August 2007. Retrieved 17 February 2023.
  37. ^ a b c d e f g h Klier, Marcus (2 September 2007). "UPD-6 Viewing figures of the first Eurovision Dance Contest". ESCToday.com. Retrieved 6 January 2023.
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