3rd Eurovision Dance Contest postponed to 2010

Despite impressive preparatory work by Host Broadcaster Ictimai Television and its partners in Azerbaijan, the number of broadcasters that signed up for participation did not reach the desired level. The EBU and its partners aim at organising a new format to make an editorially more attractive and financially more sustainable production next year, featuring a larger number of participants. The postponement also gives EBU Members the opportunity to conduct longer and improved selection processes.

Despite the decision to postpone the event, the EBU is optimistic about the future of the Eurovision Family of Events' most recently added member. "Following the commendable work on the next Eurovision Dance Contest already completed by our partners Ictimai Television and the Azerbaijani officials, we have jointly concluded that it is in the best interest of the event to postpone to next year, and therefore, concrete plans for a 2010 autumn event are now being developed, with considerable changes to introduce a new programme proposal," said Tal Barnea, Executive Supervisor of the Eurovision Dance Contest on behalf of the EBU. These plans are expected to be unveiled in the autumn of this year.

Earlier this month, Eurovision TV Director Bjørn Erichsen spoke openly about the financial situation around the production: "It is true that most European broadcasters have significantly reduced their budgets, including basic expenses, and together with our Azerbaijani partners, we have responded accordingly by considerably reducing the participation fees, in comparison to 2008," Erichsen said, adding that "the organizers in Azerbaijan fully understand the complexity of the situation and have prepared an excellent proposal for this time of crisis. The Azerbaijani partners are ready to go the extra mile to ensure that the contest will be held at the highest level, with as many participating broadcasters as possible."

As a reminder, the first Eurovision Dance Contest took place in 2007 and brought together the best of the ballroom dancing world into the Song Contest's live and unpredictable drama, with a scoreboard, foreign hosts, and of course - the "douze points". The contest was previously won by Finland (2007) and Poland (2008).