Eurovision Dance Contest 2008
The second Eurovision Dance Contest was held on 6 September at the Scottish Exhibition and Conference Centre in Glasgow before an audience of 2000 people, with couples from 14 countries taking part. The show was transmitted in a total of 24 countries, and the couple from Poland was declared the winner.
The selection of the couples, which, according to the rules, were to be made up of one dancer and the partner known for an activity other than dance, were selected by each television company. In a number of cases the couple was the winner of the national “Dancing with the Stars” programme.
Each couple had to perform one free dance with a duration of two minutes containing elements from the Latin and/or Standard repertoires. There had to be a national flavour which could be presented through the music, choice of dance, costume or other element acceptable to the EBU and the producers.
This year the selection of the winner was decided by two factors. In addition to the popular telephone vote, a Jury Panel of four IDSF adjudicators sitting in the venue gave their judgement on each performance, and their votes were converted into points equivalent to the votes of four additional countries. These were presented before the popular telephone voting started.
The Panel offered a new dimension to the show and generated much reaction from the public sitting in the venue, and added to the atmosphere seen by the viewing public at home. The presence of the Jury Panel and a number of references to the IDSF during the show provided a significant promotion to DanceSport.
Published on
