The Eurovision Young Dancers 1989 was the third 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 ...

held at the Palais des Congrès in

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...

, France, on 28 June 1989. 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 France Régions 3 (FR3), dancers from ten countries participated in the televised final. A total of seventeen countries took part in the competition. and made their debut at the contest. The participant countries could send one or two dancers, male or female, that could not be older than 19. Each dancer was free to participate in any of these two categories: classical dancing or contemporary, modern or jazz dancing. The

pas de deux In ballet, a ( French, literally "step of two") is a dance duet in which two dancers, typically a male and a female, perform ballet steps together. The ''pas de deux'' is characteristic of classical ballet and can be found in many well-known ...

performances could not be longer than ten minutes, while the

variations Variation or Variations may refer to: Science and mathematics * Variation (astronomy), any perturbation of the mean motion or orbit of a planet or satellite, particularly of the moon * Genetic variation, the difference in DNA among individual ...

could not be longer than five minutes. There were four awards that year: contemporary dancing prize, classical dancing prize and two jury's special prizes (also for contemporary and classical dance). The non-qualified countries were , , , , , and .

Agnès Letestu Agnès Letestu (born 1 February 1971) is a French prima ballerina. Biography She decided to start ballet when she saw her first ballet on TV (''Swan Lake''). Then she had the opportunity to start ballet as a hobby, and her teacher, Mr. Bertin, per ...

of France won the contemporary dance prize, with

Tetsuya Kumakawa is a Japanese ballet dancer and a former principal dancer with the Royal Ballet. Early life Tetsuya Kumakawa was born on 5 March 1972 in Asahikawa, Hokkaido, Japan. He began studying ballet at 10 years old. At age 15, he moved to the UK and tra ...

of United Kingdom winning the classical ballet prize.

Location

The

Palais des congrès de Paris The Palais des congrès de Paris (; ) is a convention centre, concert venue, and shopping mall at the Porte Maillot in the 17th arrondissement of Paris, France. The venue was built by French architect Guillaume Gillet, and was inaugurated in 197 ...

, a

concert venue A music venue is any location used for a concert or musical performance. Music venues range in size and location, from a small coffeehouse for folk music shows, an outdoor bandshell or bandstand or a concert hall to an indoor sports stadium. Ty ...

convention centre A convention center (American and British English spelling differences, American English; or conference centre in British English) is a large building that is designed to hold a Convention (meeting), convention, where individuals and groups ...

and

shopping mall A shopping mall (or simply mall) is a large indoor shopping center, usually Anchor tenant, anchored by department stores. The term ''mall'' originally meant pedestrian zone, a pedestrian promenade with shops along it, but in the late 1960s, i ...

in the

17th arrondissement of Paris The 17th arrondissement of Paris (''XVIIe arrondissement'') is one of the 20 arrondissements of the capital city of France. In spoken French, it is referred to as ''le dix-septième'' (; "the seventeenth"). The arrondissement, known as Batignol ...

France France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...

, was the host venue for the 1989 edition of the Eurovision Young Dancers. The venue was built by French architect Guillaume Gillet, and was inaugurated in 1974. The venue hosted the

Eurovision Song Contest 1978 The Eurovision Song Contest 1978 was the 23rd edition of the Eurovision Song Contest. It took place in Paris, France, following the country's victory at the with the song "L'Oiseau et l'Enfant" by Marie Myriam. Organised by the European Broadcas ...

. Nearby the venue are

Bois de Boulogne The Bois de Boulogne (, "Boulogne woodland") is a large public park that is the western half of the 16th arrondissement of Paris, near the suburb of Boulogne-Billancourt and Neuilly-sur-Seine. The land was ceded to the city of Paris by the Em ...

and the affluent neighbourhood of

Neuilly-sur-Seine Neuilly-sur-Seine (; 'Neuilly-on-Seine'), also known simply as Neuilly, is an urban Communes of France, commune in the Hauts-de-Seine Departments of France, department just west of Paris in France. Immediately adjacent to the city, north of the ...

. The closest métro and RER stations are

Porte Maillot The Porte Maillot (also known as the porte Mahiaulx, Mahiau or Mahiot after a Paille-maille court, or the Porte de Neuilly) is one of the access points into Paris mentioned in 1860 and one of the ancient city gates in the Thiers wall. City ...

and Neuilly – Porte Maillot, accessible via the lower levels of the building.

Format

The format consists of dancers who are 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 have prepared in advance of the competition. All the dancers then take part in a choreographed group dance during 'Young Dancers Week'. 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. The overall winner upon completion of the final dances is chosen by the professional jury members. The opening act was "Mon truc en plumes" performed by host Zizi Jeanmaire with her dancers and for the interval "Concerto en Ré" by L'École du Ballet de l'Ópera de Paris.

Results

Due to time restrictions, a semi-final was held to select the ten performers for the final.

Preliminary round

Broadcasters from sixteen countries took part in the preliminary semi-final round of the 1989 contest, of which ten qualified to the televised grand final. The following participants failed to qualify.

Final

Jury members

The jury members consisted of the following: * –

Roland Petit Roland Petit (13 January 192410 July 2011) was a French ballet company director, choreographer and dancer. He trained at the Paris Opera Ballet school, and became well known for his creative ballets. Life and work The son of shoe designer Ro ...

(Head of jury) * –

Frank Andersen Frank Andersen (born 15 April 1953 in Copenhagen) is a former Danish ballet dancer who was twice artistic director of the Royal Danish Ballet. He has been an influential supporter of the Danish choreographer August Bournonville. Biography Anders ...

* – * – * – Igor Eisner * –

John Neumeier John Neumeier (born February 24, 1939) is an American ballet dancer, choreographer, and director. He was the director and principal choreographer of Hamburg Ballet from 1973 to 2024 and the artistic director of the ballet at the Hamburg State ...

* –

Ekaterina Maximova Ekaterina Sergeyevna Maximova (; 1 February 1939 – 28 April 2009) was a Soviet Union, Soviet and Russian Ballet dancer, ballerina of the second part of the 20th century who was internationally recognised. She was a prima ballerina of the Bol ...

* –

Heinz Spoerli Heinz Spoerli (born 8 July 1940) is a Swiss dance maker, internationally known. After a long career as a ballet dancer and company director, he is now widely considered to be one of the foremost European choreographers of his time. Early life and ...

* – Vladimir Vasiliev

Broadcasts

The 1989 Young Dancers competition was broadcast in 19 countries including

Jordan Jordan, officially the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan, is a country in the Southern Levant region of West Asia. Jordan is bordered by Syria to the north, Iraq to the east, Saudi Arabia to the south, and Israel and the occupied Palestinian ter ...

and

Bulgaria Bulgaria, officially the Republic of Bulgaria, is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the eastern portion of the Balkans directly south of the Danube river and west of the Black Sea. Bulgaria is bordered by Greece and Turkey t ...

. Known details on the broadcasts in each country, including the specific broadcasting stations and commentators are shown in the tables below.

Notes and references

Notes

References

External links

* {{Eurovision Young Dancers Eurovision Young Dancers by year 1989 in France June 1989 in Europe Events in Paris