Eurovision Young Dancers
   HOME

TheInfoList



OR:

The Eurovision Young Dancers (), often shortened to EYD, or Young Dancers, was a biennial dance competition, organised by the
European Broadcasting Union The European Broadcasting Union (EBU; french: Union européenne de radio-télévision, links=no, UER) is an alliance of Public broadcasting, public service media organisations whose countries are within the European Broadcasting Area or who ar ...
(EBU) and is broadcast on television throughout Europe. Thirty-seven countries have taken part since the inauguration of the contest in ; including (non-EBU member) and (
North American North America is a continent in the Northern Hemisphere and almost entirely within the Western Hemisphere. It is bordered to the north by the Arctic Ocean, to the east by the Atlantic Ocean, to the southeast by South America and the Ca ...
country). Performers between the ages of 16 and 21, from member countries of the European Broadcasting Union, compete as solo of couples to dance routines of their choice. Professional jury members each representing the elements of ballet, contemporary, and modern dancing, score each of the performances. The two participants which receive the most overall points advance to a televised 'dance-off' final, where the winner is decided by the jury. is the most successful country in the Young Dancers competition, having won five times , , , , and respectively but has never hosted. On 16 December 2017, the fifteenth and most recent edition took place in
Prague Prague ( ; cs, Praha ; german: Prag, ; la, Praga) is the capital and largest city in the Czech Republic, and the historical capital of Bohemia. On the Vltava river, Prague is home to about 1.3 million people. The city has a temperate ...
,
Czech Republic The Czech Republic, or simply Czechia, is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Historically known as Bohemia, it is bordered by Austria to the south, Germany to the west, Poland to the northeast, and Slovakia to the southeast. The ...
and was won by Paulina Bidzińska of Poland, with Patricija Crnkovič of Slovenia placing second (runner-up).


History

Young Dancers takes place every two-years, in parallel to its successful counterpart,
Eurovision Young Musicians The Eurovision Young Musicians (), often shortened to EYM, or Young Musicians, is a biennial classical music competition for European musicians that are aged between 12 and 21. It is organised by the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) and broadcast ...
(another of the EBU's biennial youth competitions). The inaugural Eurovision Young Dancers contest, then known as Eurovision Competition for Young Dancers, took place in
Reggio Emilia Reggio nell'Emilia ( egl, Rèz; la, Regium Lepidi), usually referred to as Reggio Emilia, or simply Reggio by its inhabitants, and known until 1861 as Reggio di Lombardia, is a city in northern Italy, in the Emilia-Romagna region. It has abou ...
, Italy, on 16 June 1985. Eleven countries who are members of the
European Broadcasting Union The European Broadcasting Union (EBU; french: Union européenne de radio-télévision, links=no, UER) is an alliance of Public broadcasting, public service media organisations whose countries are within the European Broadcasting Area or who ar ...
(EBU) competed in the début contest. won the first edition in 1985, represented by Arantxa Argüelles. , represented by Arne Fagerholt, and , represented by Mia Stagh and Göran Svalberg, came second and third respectively. A total of thirty-seven countries having competed at least once since 1985. is the only non-European country to have taken part in the contest (as well as the only country in North America to have ever participated in a Eurovision event), although their broadcaster,
Canadian Broadcasting Corporation The Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (french: Société Radio-Canada), branded as CBC/Radio-Canada, is a Canadian public broadcaster for both radio and television. It is a federal Crown corporation that receives funding from the government. ...
(CBC), is an associate member of the EBU. Eurovision Young Dancers is also the only Eurovision event to feature a country whose broadcaster is neither a full nor associate member of the EBU, as
Kosovo Kosovo ( sq, Kosova or ; sr-Cyrl, Косово ), officially the Republic of Kosovo ( sq, Republika e Kosovës, links=no; sr, Република Косово, Republika Kosovo, links=no), is a partially recognised state in Southeast Euro ...
made their sole appearance in 2011 (although they have broadcast other Eurovision events for many years).
Bulgaria Bulgaria (; bg, България, Bǎlgariya), officially the Republic of Bulgaria,, ) is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the eastern flank of the Balkans, and is bordered by Romania to the north, Serbia and North Macedon ...
's debut and only appearance in 1991 also marked the first participation of a former
Warsaw Pact The Warsaw Pact (WP) or Treaty of Warsaw, formally the Treaty of Friendship, Cooperation and Mutual Assistance, was a collective defense treaty signed in Warsaw, Poland, between the Soviet Union and seven other Eastern Bloc socialist republic ...
country in a Eurovision event, as well as the longest gap between a country's debut at another Eurovision event prior to appearing at the Eurovision Song Contest (with fourteen years separating their Young Dancers debut and their Song Contest debut). In the entire history of the event, only three contests (2007, 2009 and 2019) have never occurred. The 2007 Eurovision Young Dancers was cancelled to allow the
Prix de Lausanne The Prix de Lausanne is an international dance competition held annually in Lausanne, Switzerland. The competition is for young dancers seeking to pursue a professional career in classical ballet, and many former prize winners of the competition a ...
, a similar event organised by Swiss broadcaster
SRG SSR idée suisse The Swiss Broadcasting Corporation (german: Schweizerische Radio- und Fernsehgesellschaft; french: Société suisse de radiodiffusion et télévision; it, Società svizzera di radiotelevisione; rm, Societad Svizra da Radio e Televisiun; SRG ...
to take place at the same venue. The decision to cancel the contest was mutually agreed between the host broadcaster and the EBU. The following contest was due to be held on 19 June 2009 at the Dance House in Oslo, however was eventually cancelled due to a lack of interest from broadcasters. The contest would eventually be held again in 2011 when the format was revived as a
prime time Prime time or the peak time is the block of broadcast programming taking place during the middle of the evening for a television show. It is mostly targeted towards adults (and sometimes families). It is used by the major television networks to ...
show. On 23 January 2017 the EBU announced that Maltese broadcaster
Public Broadcasting Services Public Broadcasting Services Limited (PBS) is the public broadcaster of Malta. PBS is funded by government grants and the sale of commercial airtime. Its TVM channel is Malta's most watched television channel, and its radio station Magic Malta ...
(PBS), who agreed to host the event in July 2015, had due to circumstances beyond their control been forced to cancel their staging of the competition. The EBU also stated they were looking for another host broadcaster but should one not be found in time the competition would not take place this year and is expected to return in 2019. On 18 May 2017, Czech broadcaster
Česká televize Czech Television ( cs, Česká televize, italics=no ; abbreviation: ČT) is a public television broadcaster in the Czech Republic, broadcasting seven channels. Established after the Velvet Revolution in 1992, it is the successor to Czechoslov ...
(ČT) confirmed that they would host the contest for a second time. On 20 December 2018, the contest was cancelled due to the absence of a broadcaster willing to host the competition. As of that time, and were the only eligible countries to have confirmed their intention to participate in the contest. In October 2020, the EBU ruled out bringing the contest back until further notice.


Format

The format has been roughly the same since the 1985 inauguration of the competition. All competing dancers are to be non-
professional A professional is a member of a profession or any person who works in a specified professional activity. The term also describes the standards of education and training that prepare members of the profession with the particular knowledge and skil ...
and between the ages of 16–21. Participants may consist of solo or couples, with each performing a dance routine of their choice, which they have prepared in advance of the competition. All of the acts then take part in a choreographed group dance during 'Young Dancers Week'. From 1989 to 2003, a semi-final round took place a few days before the Contest, and the jury decided as well which countries qualified for the televised final. In the 2003 contest, the professional jury voted electronically, immediately following each act, awarding points for technique and artistry. For the 2005 contest, the traditional format was changed. A week of dance master classes replaced the semi-final round. Florence Clerc, Irek Mukhamedow,
Christopher Bruce Christopher Bruce (born 3 October 1945 in Leicester) is a British choreographer and performer. He was the Artistic Director of the Rambert Dance Company until 2002. He has choreographed many pieces from Andrew Lloyd-Webber/ Alan Ayckbourn m ...
and Piotr Nardelli were the dance teachers selected to work with the participants and tasked to select the 10 finalists out of the 13 participating countries. In 1989 and 2003, the contest awarded two sets of first prize, one for classical and one for contemporary dance. An additional "Youth Jury" prize was awarded in 2003 chosen by a panel of dance enthusiasts in the audience. The format is revamped in 2011 to include a 'final duel' round and the semi-finals are removed due to the low number of participating countries. Jury members of a professional aspect and representing the elements of
ballet Ballet () is a type of performance dance that originated during the Italian Renaissance in the fifteenth century and later developed into a concert dance form in France and Russia. It has since become a widespread and highly technical form of ...
,
contemporary Contemporary history, in English-language historiography, is a subset of modern history that describes the historical period from approximately 1945 to the present. Contemporary history is either a subset of the late modern period, or it is o ...
, and
modern Modern may refer to: History * Modern history ** Early Modern period ** Late Modern period *** 18th century *** 19th century *** 20th century ** Contemporary history * Moderns, a faction of Freemasonry that existed in the 18th century Phil ...
dancing styles, score each of the competing individual and group dance routines. Once all the jury votes have been counted, the two participants which received the highest total of points progress to a final round. The final round consists of a 90-second 'dual', were each of the finalists perform a 45-second random dance-off routine. The overall winner upon completion of the final dances is chosen by the professional jury members.


Participation

Eligible participants include primarily Active Members (as opposed to Associate Members) of the EBU. Active members are those who are located in states that fall within the
European Broadcasting Area The European Broadcasting Area (EBA) is defined by the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) as such: :''The "European Broadcasting Area" is bounded on the west by the western boundary of Region 1, on the east by the meridian 40° East o ...
, or are
member states of the Council of Europe The Council of Europe was founded on 5 May 1949 by ten western and northern European states, with Greece joining three months later, and Iceland, Turkey and West Germany joining the next year. It now has 46 member states, with Montenegro being t ...
. The European Broadcasting Area is defined by the
International Telecommunication Union The International Telecommunication Union is a specialized agency of the United Nations responsible for many matters related to information and communication technologies. It was established on 17 May 1865 as the International Telegraph Unio ...
: :''The "European Broadcasting Area" is bounded on the west by the western boundary of Region 1, on the east by the meridian 40° East of
Greenwich Greenwich ( , ,) is a town in south-east London, England, within the ceremonial county of Greater London. It is situated east-southeast of Charing Cross. Greenwich is notable for its maritime history and for giving its name to the Greenwich ...
and on the south by the
parallel 30° North The 30th parallel north is a circle of latitude that is 30 degrees north of the Earth's equatorial plane. It stands one-third of the way between the equator and the North Pole and crosses Africa, Asia, the Pacific Ocean, North America and th ...
so as to include the northern part of
Saudi Arabia Saudi Arabia, officially the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA), is a country in Western Asia. It covers the bulk of the Arabian Peninsula, and has a land area of about , making it the fifth-largest country in Asia, the second-largest in the A ...
and that part of those countries bordering the
Mediterranean The Mediterranean Sea is a sea connected to the Atlantic Ocean, surrounded by the Mediterranean Basin and almost completely enclosed by land: on the north by Western and Southern Europe and Anatolia, on the south by North Africa, and on the e ...
within these limits. In addition,
Armenia Armenia (), , group=pron officially the Republic of Armenia,, is a landlocked country in the Armenian Highlands of Western Asia.The UNbr>classification of world regions places Armenia in Western Asia; the CIA World Factbook , , and ''Ox ...
,
Azerbaijan Azerbaijan (, ; az, Azərbaycan ), officially the Republic of Azerbaijan, , also sometimes officially called the Azerbaijan Republic is a transcontinental country located at the boundary of Eastern Europe and Western Asia. It is a part of th ...
,
Georgia Georgia most commonly refers to: * Georgia (country), a country in the Caucasus region of Eurasia * Georgia (U.S. state), a state in the Southeast United States Georgia may also refer to: Places Historical states and entities * Related to the ...
and those parts of the territories of
Iraq Iraq,; ku, عێراق, translit=Êraq officially the Republic of Iraq, '; ku, کۆماری عێراق, translit=Komarî Êraq is a country in Western Asia. It is bordered by Turkey to Iraq–Turkey border, the north, Iran to Iran–Iraq ...
,
Jordan Jordan ( ar, الأردن; tr. ' ), officially the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan,; tr. ' is a country in Western Asia. It is situated at the crossroads of Asia, Africa, and Europe, within the Levant region, on the East Bank of the Jordan Rive ...
,
Syrian Arab Republic Syria ( ar, سُورِيَا or سُورِيَة, translit=Sūriyā), officially the Syrian Arab Republic ( ar, الجمهورية العربية السورية, al-Jumhūrīyah al-ʻArabīyah as-Sūrīyah), is a Western Asian country loc ...
,
Turkey Turkey ( tr, Türkiye ), officially the Republic of Türkiye ( tr, Türkiye Cumhuriyeti, links=no ), is a list of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country located mainly on the Anatolia, Anatolian Peninsula in Western Asia, with ...
and
Ukraine Ukraine ( uk, Україна, Ukraïna, ) is a country in Eastern Europe. It is the second-largest European country after Russia, which it borders to the east and northeast. Ukraine covers approximately . Prior to the ongoing Russian inv ...
lying outside the above limits are included in the European Broadcasting Area.'' The western boundary of Region 1 is defined by a line running from the
North Pole The North Pole, also known as the Geographic North Pole or Terrestrial North Pole, is the point in the Northern Hemisphere where the Earth's axis of rotation meets its surface. It is called the True North Pole to distinguish from the Mag ...
along
meridian Meridian or a meridian line (from Latin ''meridies'' via Old French ''meridiane'', meaning “midday”) may refer to Science * Meridian (astronomy), imaginary circle in a plane perpendicular to the planes of the celestial equator and horizon * ...
10° West of
Greenwich Greenwich ( , ,) is a town in south-east London, England, within the ceremonial county of Greater London. It is situated east-southeast of Charing Cross. Greenwich is notable for its maritime history and for giving its name to the Greenwich ...
to its intersection with
parallel Parallel is a geometric term of location which may refer to: Computing * Parallel algorithm * Parallel computing * Parallel metaheuristic * Parallel (software), a UNIX utility for running programs in parallel * Parallel Sysplex, a cluster of IBM ...
72° North; thence by
great circle In mathematics, a great circle or orthodrome is the circular intersection of a sphere and a plane passing through the sphere's center point. Any arc of a great circle is a geodesic of the sphere, so that great circles in spherical geomet ...
arc to the intersection of meridian 50° West and parallel 40° North; thence by great circle arc to the intersection of meridian 20° West and parallel 10° South; thence along meridian 20° West to the
South Pole The South Pole, also known as the Geographic South Pole, Terrestrial South Pole or 90th Parallel South, is one of the two points where Earth's axis of rotation intersects its surface. It is the southernmost point on Earth and lies antipod ...
. Active members include broadcasting organisations whose transmissions are made available to at least 98% of households in their own country which are equipped to receive such transmissions. If an EBU Active Member wishes to participate, they must fulfil conditions as laid down by the rules of the contest (of which a separate copy is drafted annually). Eligibility to participate is not determined by
geographic Geography (from Greek: , ''geographia''. Combination of Greek words ‘Geo’ (The Earth) and ‘Graphien’ (to describe), literally "earth description") is a field of science devoted to the study of the lands, features, inhabitants, and ...
inclusion within the continent of
Europe Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a Continent#Subcontinents, subcontinent of Eurasia ...
, despite the "Euro" in "Eurovision" – nor does it have any relation to the
European Union The European Union (EU) is a supranational political and economic union of member states that are located primarily in Europe. The union has a total area of and an estimated total population of about 447million. The EU has often been des ...
. , a
partially recognised Diplomatic recognition in international law is a unilateral declarative political act of a state that acknowledges an act or status of another state or government in control of a state (may be also a recognized state). Recognition can be accorde ...
state State may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Literature * ''State Magazine'', a monthly magazine published by the U.S. Department of State * ''The State'' (newspaper), a daily newspaper in Columbia, South Carolina, United States * ''Our S ...
in
Southeastern Europe Southeast Europe or Southeastern Europe (SEE) is a geographical subregion of Europe, consisting primarily of the Balkans. Sovereign states and territories that are included in the region are Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia (al ...
, is the only country in Europe who does not yet have EBU members, but has participated once in . Several countries geographically outside the boundaries of Europe have competed: and , in
Western Asia Western Asia, West Asia, or Southwest Asia, is the westernmost subregion of the larger geographical region of Asia, as defined by some academics, UN bodies and other institutions. It is almost entirely a part of the Middle East, and includes Ana ...
(both are members of the
Council of Europe The Council of Europe (CoE; french: Conseil de l'Europe, ) is an international organisation founded in the wake of World War II to uphold European Convention on Human Rights, human rights, democracy and the Law in Europe, rule of law in Europe. ...
with Cyprus as a member state of the European Union). Each made their début at Young Dancers in and respectively. In addition, several
transcontinental countries This is a list of countries with territory that straddles more than one continent, known as transcontinental states or intercontinental states. Contiguous transcontinental countries are states that have one continuous or immediately-adjacent ...
with only part of their territory in Europe have competed: , since ; in the North America continent, despite only being an associate member of the EBU, have competed twice, in and . Thirty-six countries have participated at least once. These are listed here alongside the year in which they made their début:


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 the Eurovision Young Dancers, one or more times. Future venues are shown in ''italics''. With 3 contests,
Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It is divided into 16 administrative provinces called voivodeships, covering an area of . Poland has a population of over 38 million and is the fifth-most populous ...
is the country having hosted the most contests, albeit in different cities.


Winners

Sixteen performances have won the Eurovision Young Dancers competition, a biennial dance contest organised by member countries of the European Broadcasting Union. There have been fourteen contest, with each having a winner, second, and third places for all dance styles combined, with exception to the which awarded first place for
contemporary Contemporary history, in English-language historiography, is a subset of modern history that describes the historical period from approximately 1945 to the present. Contemporary history is either a subset of the late modern period, or it is o ...
and classical dance categories; and the which gave first place prizes for
ballet Ballet () is a type of performance dance that originated during the Italian Renaissance in the fifteenth century and later developed into a concert dance form in France and Russia. It has since become a widespread and highly technical form of ...
,
modern dance Modern dance is a broad genre of western concert or theatrical dance which included dance styles such as ballet, folk, ethnic, religious, and social dancing; and primarily arose out of Europe and the United States in the late 19th and early 20th ...
, and a 'Youth Jury Choice' categories. From onwards, there have only been prizes awarded to the winner and runner-up. Below is a break-down of all those winners by each individual event and by number of wins per country.


Winners by year


Winners by country

The table below shows the top-three placings from each contest, along with the years that a country won the contest.


Presenters


See also

*
Eurovision Choir of the Year Eurovision Choir (formerly Eurovision Choir of the Year) is choral competition organised by the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) and the and modeled after the latter's World Choir Games. Participation is open to member broadcasters of the ...
*
Eurovision Dance Contest 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 a ...
*
Eurovision Magic Circus Show The ''Magic Circus Show'' was an entertainment show organised by the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) and host broadcaster Radio Télévision Suisse (RTS), which took place in 2010, 2011 and 2012. Children aged between seven and fourteen represen ...
*
Eurovision Song Contest The Eurovision Song Contest (), sometimes abbreviated to ESC and often known simply as Eurovision, is an international songwriting competition organised annually by the European Broadcasting Union (EBU), featuring participants representing pr ...
*
Eurovision Young Musicians The Eurovision Young Musicians (), often shortened to EYM, or Young Musicians, is a biennial classical music competition for European musicians that are aged between 12 and 21. It is organised by the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) and broadcast ...
*
Junior Eurovision Song Contest The Junior Eurovision Song Contest (often shortened to JESC, Junior Eurovision or Junior EuroSong) is an international song competition which has been organised by the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) annually since 2003. It is held in a diff ...


Notes and references


Notes


References


External links

*
Eurovision Young Dancers
nbsp;–
European Broadcasting Union The European Broadcasting Union (EBU; french: Union européenne de radio-télévision, links=no, UER) is an alliance of Public broadcasting, public service media organisations whose countries are within the European Broadcasting Area or who ar ...
{{European Broadcasting Union Dance competition television shows Young Dancers Recurring events established in 1985