POSTED: Monday February 2nd 2009
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Eurovision Dance Contest goes to Azerbaijan

The 135-minuteshow will be broadcast live across Europe via the Eurovision Network

Geneva, 2 February 2009 – The European Broadcasting Union (EBU) and Eurovision TV* are proud to announce that the third Eurovision Dance Contest (EDC) will take place in September this year at the Heydar Aliev Sports and Concert Complex (SCC) in Baku, Azerbaijan.

The 135-minuteshow will be broadcast live across Europe via the Eurovision Network at 21:00 CET. Nearly 8,000 spectators are expected to attend the show in Baku\‘s largest concert arena.

The event is organised by the EBU and will be hosted by its Azerbaijani Member, Ictimai Television**. The concept of an international dance competition was initiated by the International Dance Sport Federation (IDSF) and transformed into a TV show by two UK production companies, Splash Media and Sunset+Vine. The EBU finally included the show in its family of Eurovision events.

The first two editions of the show were hosted successfully by the BBC in 2007 and 2008. Azerbaijan’s public service broadcaster, Ictimai Television, then won the EBU tender to serve as host broadcaster for the 2009 edition.

\“The EBU is very pleased with the level of commitment, professionalism and high spirit expressed by Ictimai, the Azerbaijani Ministry of Youth and Sports and the Azerbaijani DanceSport Federation in the negotiations following Ictimai\‘s bid to become host broadcaster,\” says Bjørn Erichsen, Director of Eurovision TV. “We truly look forward to this production by one of the EBU\‘s newest Members.”

The Eurovision Dance Contest is the newest addition to the family of Eurovision events. Fifty four years after the launch of the Eurovision Song Contest and the creation of the Junior Eurovision Song Contest a few years ago, this new show brings together the glitz and glamour of ballroom dancing and the Song Contest\‘s live and unpredictable drama, with a scoreboard, foreign hosts, and of course – the \“douze points\”.

Participating EBU broadcasters will each be represented by a couple*** dancing a freestyle choreography inspired by the country they represent. In addition to being judged by a panel of experts in the arena, the European audience at home will cast their vote by televoting and text voting to determine this year\‘s winner of the Grand Prix Dancing title.

Note to editors:

* 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 organisation operates the Eurovision and Euroradio networks. The EBU offers its Members technical, operational and legal services, and coordinates a growing supply of quality content for radio, television and new platforms. It works to secure recognition of the crucial role of public service broadcasters in the digital audiovisual landscape. More information on: www.ebu.ch

** İctimai Televiziya və Radio Yayımları Şirkəti (Public Television and Radio Broadcasting Company) or iTV is a state-funded public television channel in Azerbaijan. An EBU Member since 2007, iTV was established in March 2005 under the auspices of the Council of Europe. In addition to its public service mission, the majority of iTV\‘s programmes are broadcast live, creating an opportunity for interactive communications with its audience. iTV values international collaborations and participates both in the Eurovision Song Contest and the Eurovision Dance Contest.

***Each Participating Broadcaster shall present one qualified, mixed dancing couple (two dancers, one man and one woman) to represent its country in the EDC. According to the competition rules, one of the dancers must be a professional dancer, while the other must be a non-professional dancer known in a field other than dance. The couples are nominated by a selection process, in most cases a televised national selection, organised by each participating broadcaster.

Please note that press accreditation is not yet finalised, and will not open until nearer the time of broadcast. All information will be posted on the EDC web site: http://www.eurovisiondance.tv/

For more information, please contact:

Mr. Tal Barnea

Executive Supervisor

Eurovision TV

Tel.: +41 22 717 2426

E-mail: barnea@ebu.ch

Press contact:

Mr. Sietse Bakker

Communications & Public Relations Manager

Eurovision Family of Events

Tel.: +372 712 00 20

E-mail:  sietse.bakker@eurovision.tv

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Keywords · EBU · Dancesport · Eurovision Dance Contest (EDC)

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Name: Avril Mahon Roberts
Organization: European Broadcasting Union
Email:
Phone: +41.22.717.2014
URL: http://www.ebu.ch

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