The Eurovision Young Dancers 1997 was the seventh edition of the Eurovision Young Dancers, held at the Teatr Muzyczny in Gdynia, Poland on 17 June 1997.[1] Organised by the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) and host broadcaster Telewizja Polska (TVP), dancers from seven countries participated in the televised final. A total of thirteen countries took part in the competition. Latvia and Slovakia made their début while five countries (Austria, France, Norway, Russia and Switzerland) withdrew from the contest.[1] However, France, Switzerland and Norway broadcast the event and, for the first time, Ireland.

Eurovision Young Dancers 1997
Dates
Semi-final	11 June 1997
Final	17 June 1997
Host
Venue	Teatr Muzyczny, Gdynia, Poland
Presenter(s)	Grażyna Torbicka Bogusław Kaczyński (semi-final) Henk van der Meulen (final)
Directed by	Dariusz Goczal
Executive producer	Barbara Trzeciak-Pietkiewicz Malgorzata Jedynak-Pietkiewicz
Host broadcaster	Telewizja Polska (TVP)
Interval act	Folk dance group "Bazuny"
Website	youngdancers.tv/event/gdynia-1997
Participants
Number of entries	13
Debuting countries	Latvia  Slovakia
Returning countries	Estonia
Non-returning countries	Austria  France  Norway  Russia   Switzerland
Participation map      Participating countries     Did not qualify from the semi final     Countries that participated in the past but not in 1997
Vote
Voting system	A professional jury chose the finalists and the top 3 performances
Winning dancers	Spain Antonio Carmena San José
1995 ← Eurovision Young Dancers → 1999

The participant countries could send one or two dancers, male or female, who performed one or two dances. The semi-final took place six days before the final (11 June 1997).[1]

The non-qualified countries were, Cyprus, Estonia, Germany, Greece, Hungary and Slovenia. Spain, with Antonio Carmena San José, won the contest for a 5th time (4th in a row) with Belgium and Sweden placing second and third respectively.[2]

Location

Teatr Muzyczny, a theatre in Gdynia, Poland, was the host venue for the 1997 edition of the Eurovision Young Dancers.[1]

Format

The format consists of dancers who are non-professional 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 of the acts then take part in a choreographed group dance during 'Young Dancers Week'.[3]

Jury members of a professional aspect and representing the elements of ballet, contemporary, and modern 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.[3]

Results

Preliminary round

A total of thirteen countries took part in the preliminary round of the 1997 contest, of which seven qualified to the televised grand final. The following countries failed to qualify.[1]

Country	Participant	Dance	Choreographer
Cyprus	Carolina Constantinou	"La Bayadère"	M. Petipa
Estonia	Mari Savitski	"Don Quixote: Quitry Variations"	M. Petipa
Germany	Valentina Scaglia	"Le Conservatoire"	H.S. Paulli and A. Bournonville
Slovenia	Ana Klasnja	Pas de deux	G. Balanchine
Hungary	Gabor Kapin	"La Sylphide"	A. Bournonville
Greece	Nefeli Markaki	Pas de deux	G. Balanchine

Final

Awards were given to the top three countries. The table below highlights these using gold, silver, and bronze. The placing results of the remaining participants is unknown and never made public by the European Broadcasting Union.[2]

Draw	Country	Participant	Dance	Choreographer	Result
01	Belgium	Alain Honorez	"The Sleeping Beauty"	M. Petipa	2
02	Latvia	Viktorija Jansone	"Sleeping Beauty: Aurora's variation"	M. Petipa	-
03	Sweden	Tim Matiakis	"Paquita"	M. Petipa	3
04	Finland	Salla Suominen	"Romeo and Juliet: Juliet's variation"	E. Sylvestersen	-
05	Slovakia	Roman Lazik	"La Sylphide"	A. Bournonville	-
06	Poland	Magdalena Dzięgielewska and Bartosz Anczykowski	"Paquita - Grand pas de deux"	F. Capouste	-
07	Spain	Antonio Carmena San José	"Angelitos Locos"	J.C. Santamaría	1

Jury members

The jury members consisted of the following:[1]

Broadcasting

The 1997 Young Dancers competition was broadcast in 17 countries.[4] France, Ireland, Norway, and Switzerland broadcast it in addition to the competing countries.

See also

• Eurovision Song Contest 1997

References

External links

• Official website