The Eurovision Young Dancers 2017 was the fifteenth and final edition of the

Eurovision Young Dancers Eurovision Young Dancers (), often shortened to EYD, or Young Dancers, was a biennial dance competition, organised by the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) between members of the union, who participate representing their countries. Broadcasters ...

competition. The final took place at the

Prague Congress Centre Prague Congress Centre ( Czech: Kongresové centrum Praha, shortly KCP), originally Palace of culture Prague (Czech: Palác kultury), is a large neofunctionalist building in Czech Republic capital Prague 4 district Nusle, located on the edge of ...

Prague Prague ( ; ) is the capital and List of cities and towns in the Czech Republic, largest city of the Czech Republic and the historical capital of Bohemia. Prague, located on the Vltava River, has a population of about 1.4 million, while its P ...

, Czech Republic, on 16 December 2017. It was organised by the

European Broadcasting Union The European Broadcasting Union (EBU; , UER) is an alliance of Public broadcasting, public service media organisations in countries within the European Broadcasting Area (EBA) or who are member states of the Council of Europe, members of the ...

(EBU), and host broadcaster

Česká televize Czech Television ( ; abbreviation: ČT) is a public television broadcaster in the Czech Republic, broadcasting six channels. Established after breakup of Czechoslovakia in 1992, it is the successor to Czechoslovak Television founded in 1953. H ...

(ČT), for a second consecutive time. The event is aimed at young dancers aged between 16 and 21, competing in modern dances, be it solo or in couples, as long as they were not professionally engaged. Eight countries participated in the event, with returning after last competing at the Eurovision Young Dancers 2011; and , , and not returning this year. Paulina Bidzińska of won the contest, with Patricija Crnkovič of placing second (runner-up).

Location

On 7 July 2015, the Maltese city of Valletta was selected as the host city for the 2017 edition of the biennial Eurovision Young Dancers. The reasons behind this decision was to coincide the Young Dancers event alongside the

European Capital of Culture A European Capital of Culture is a city designated by the European Union (EU) for a period of one calendar year during which it organises a series of cultural events with a strong pan-European dimension. Being a European Capital of Culture can ...

, of which the city will be the organisers of a series of cultural events in

2018 Events January * January 1 – Bulgaria takes over the Presidency of the Council of the European Union, after the Estonian presidency. * January 4 – SPLM-IO rebels loyal to Chan Garang Lual start a raid against Juba, capital of ...

, all with a strong European dimension. The contest was scheduled to take place on 9 June 2017, with the

Mediterranean Conference Centre The Mediterranean Conference Centre (MCC, ) is a conference centre in Valletta, Malta. The building was built as a hospital in the 16th century by the Order of St. John, and it was known as the Sacra Infermeria or the Holy Infirmary (). It was ...

originally proposed as the venue. However, on 19 November 2016 it was reported that the host broadcaster PBS were planning to host the contest in the open-air. It was announced on 24 December 2016 that the event would take place at the

Grand Harbour The Grand Harbour (; ), also known as the Port of Marsa, is a natural harbour on the island of Malta. It has been substantially modified over the years with extensive docks ( Malta Dockyard), wharves, and fortifications. Description The h ...

. In January 2017, the EBU announced that Maltese broadcaster 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 was expected to return in 2019. This would have been the third time that the Maltese national 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 Malt ...

(PBS), would have organised a Eurovision event, the first two being the

Junior Eurovision Song Contest The Junior Eurovision Song Contest, often known simply as Junior Eurovision, is an international children's Music competition, song competition organised annually by the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) among its members since 2003. Each part ...

in and . However, in May, during a press release about the national selection for the contest, the Polish broadcaster

Telewizja Polska Telewizja Polska S.A. (; TVP), also known in English as Polish Television, is a Public broadcasting, public service broadcaster in Poland, founded in 1952. It is the oldest and largest Polish television network. After 2015, when the right-wing po ...

(TVP) confirmed that the contest would now take place in the

Czech Republic The Czech Republic, also known as Czechia, and historically known as Bohemia, is a landlocked country in Central Europe. The country is bordered by Austria to the south, Germany to the west, Poland to the northeast, and Slovakia to the south ...

later in the year. On 18 May 2017, Czech broadcaster

(ČT) confirmed that they would host the contest. It was later reported that the contest would take place on 16 December 2017. Slovenian broadcaster

Radiotelevizija Slovenija Radiotelevizija Slovenija () – usually abbreviated to RTV Slovenija, RTV SLO (or simply RTV within Slovenia) – is Slovenia's national public broadcasting organization. Based in Ljubljana, it has regional broadcasting centres in Koper and Ma ...

(RTVSLO) confirmed that it would be held in Prague. The EBU confirmed on 22 June that the Forum Hall of the

would host the competition.

Hosting selection

Whereas the winning country at the

Eurovision Song Contest The Eurovision Song Contest (), often known simply as Eurovision, is an international Music competition, song competition organised annually by the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) among its members since 1956. Each participating broadcaster ...

goes on to host the following year's event, this method is not the case when it comes to the decision of selecting the hosts for the

. The event's Steering Group, conduct a meeting in which they discuss the countries who submitted an application to host the event, and make their final decision thereafter.

Format

The format consisted of dancers who were non-

professional A professional is a member of a profession or any person who work (human activity), works in a specified professional activity. The term also describes the standards of education and training that prepare members of the profession with the partic ...

and between the ages of 16–21, competing in a performance of dance routines of their choice, which they had prepared in advance of the competition. All of the acts then took part in a choreographed group dance during 'Young Dancers Week'.

Jury panel

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 about 1945 to the present. In the social sciences, contemporary history is also continuous with, and related t ...

, 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 Philosophy ...

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 will involve 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 will be chosen by the professional jury members. The jury members were as follows: * –

Daria Klimentová Daria Klimentová (born 23 June 1971) is a Czech retired ballet dancer, ballet teacher and photographer . She spent most of her career as a lead principal dancer at English National Ballet. She is currently a teacher at the Royal Ballet Upper Sc ...

* – Ambra Succi * –

Itzik Galili Itzik Galili (; born 1961 in Tel Aviv) is an Israeli choreographer. Career After having been a member of the Batsheva Dance Company and Bat-Dor Dance Company in his country, he moved to the Netherlands in 1991, where he founded his own compan ...

Participating countries

On 14 August 2017, it was revealed that eight countries would be taking part in the contest, with returning after last competing at the Eurovision Young Dancers 2011; and , , and not returning. This is the lowest number of participating countries in the history of the contest.

Final duel

Broadcasting

The following countries, listed in order of broadcasting dates, have confirmed that they broadcast the contest.

Other countries

For a country to be eligible for potential participation in the

, it needs to be an active member of the

(EBU).

Active EBU Members

* – Albania participated in the

Eurovision Young Dancers 2015 The Eurovision Young Dancers 2015 was the fourteenth edition of the Eurovision Young Dancers competition. The final was held in the New Theatre (Plzeň), New Theatre in Plzeň, Czech Republic, on 19 June 2015. It was organised by the European Bro ...

, however announced that they would not participate in 2017. * – The Austrian broadcaster

Österreichischer Rundfunk (ORF ; , ) is the national public broadcaster of Austria. Funded from a combination of television licence fee revenue and limited on-air advertising, ORF is the dominant player in the Austrian broadcast media. Austria was the last country in ...

(ORF) announced on 22 November 2016 that they had no plans to return in 2017. Austria last participated at the . * – The Finnish broadcaster

Yle Yleisradio Oy (; ), abbreviated as Yle () (formerly styled in all uppercase until 2012), translated into English as the Finnish Broadcasting Company, is Finland's national public broadcasting company, founded in 1926. It is a joint-stock comp ...

isradio (Yle) announced on 4 November 2016 that they had no plans to return in 2017. Finland last participated at the . * – The Latvian broadcaster

Latvijas Televīzija Latvijas Televīzija (''Latvian Television'', LTV) is the state-owned public service broadcasting, public service television broadcaster in Latvia. LTV operates two channels, LTV1 in Latvian language, Latvian and LTV7 (previously called LTV2) in ...

(LTV) announced on 16 December 2016 that they had no plans to return in 2017. Latvia last participated at the . * – The Dutch broadcaster NTR announced on 2 February 2017 that they would not participate in the contest. The Netherlands last participated at the . * – The Ukrainian broadcaster

National Television Company of Ukraine National may refer to: Common uses * Nation or country ** Nationality – a ''national'' is a person who is subject to a nation, regardless of whether the person has full rights as a citizen Places in the United States * National, Maryland, ...

(NTU) announced on 22 December 2016 that they would not return in 2017 due to focusing their attention on preparations for hosting the

Eurovision Song Contest 2017 The Eurovision Song Contest 2017 was the 62nd edition of the Eurovision Song Contest. It took place in Kyiv, Ukraine, following the country's victory at the with the song " 1944" by Jamala. Organised by the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) an ...

. Ukraine last participated at the .

References

External links

* {{Eurovision Young Dancers 2017 in the Czech Republic Eurovision Young Dancers by year Events in Prague December 2017 in Europe