The First Eurovision Dance Contest
The Winner is Finland!
London, Saturday 1 September 07 – Congratulations to Finland, the winner of the first Eurovision Dance Contest. Jussi Väänänen & Katja Koukkula performed brilliantly, receiving the top score of 132 points. Ukraine and Ireland followed with 121 and 95 points respectively.
The winners performed a Rumba to the song All In Love Is Fair (Carmen McRae) and a Freestyle Paso Doble to The Unforgiven (Apocalyptica). Jussi Väänänen & Katja Koukkula, a professional dancing couple have won numerous national titles as amateurs, as well as professionals. They have also participated in several national theatre and TV shows such as the musical Saturday Night Fever and in Strictly Come Dancing.
“It was an exhilarating programme with an array of talented participants and renowned guests. All the couples were outstanding and should be congratulated for their performances”, says Tal Barnea, Executive Supervisor of the Eurovision Dance Contest.
The show featured 16 couples from the following European countries: Austria, Denmark, Finland, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Lithuania, Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Russia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Ukraine and the UK. Further points were distributed as follows:
Rank | Country | Total |
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16 | Finland
Ukraine
Ireland
Poland
Austria
Portugal
Russia
Germany
Denmark
Spain
Lithuania
Netherlands
Greece
Sweden
United Kingdom
Switzerland | 132
121
95
84
74
74
72
59
38
38
35
34
31
23
18
0 |
“We are very pleased with the successful outcome of this first Eurovision Dance Contest and look forward to an exciting future of dancing”, says Bjørn Erichsen, Director of Eurovision TV.
Hosted by Graham Norton and Claudia Winkleman, the show took place in front of a full BBC studio audience and was viewed by fans in 24 countries across Europe and beyond. The Eurovision Dance Contest web site surpassed 100 000 page hits by the middle of show.
Further information is available on the official web site of the Eurovision Dance Contest: www.eurovisiondance.tv
End
Eurovision TV is a brand of the EBU – the European Broadcasting Union. The Geneva-based EBU is the largest professional association of national broadcasters in the world. It serves 75 active members in 56 countries in Europe, North Africa and the Middle East together with 43 associate members around the world. The Eurovision Dance Contest is a European co-production, produced by Splash Media and Sunset + Vine in collaboration with the International Dance Sport Federation, under the auspices of the European Broadcasting Union.
EBU-UER
Union Européenne de Radio-Télévision
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Genève
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For further information
Patricia Goldschmid, Communications Advisor, Goldschmid@ebu.ch
