LTV the Latvian national broadcaster has confirmed to Eurovoix.com that they will not be participating in Eurovision Young Dancers 2017.
LTV has confirmed today that Latvia will not be participating in 15th edition of Eurovision Young Dancers in Malta next June. Latvia last competed in Eurovision Young Dancers in 2005 having debuted in the contest in 1997.
The country was one of two countries to debut in the contest in 1997 alongside Slovakia. At the 1997 contest Latvia made the final represented by Viktorija Janson, she failed to finish within the top three. In the five contests that Latvia participated in they never failed to qualify from the semi final to the final.
To date five countries have confirmed that they will be participating in next years contest. They are:
- Czech Republic
- Malta (Host Nation)
- Norway
- Poland
- Slovenia
Malta will be hosting Eurovision Young Dancers 2017 on 9th June. The venue for the contest has not been confirmed but PBS has stated that they wish to hold the contest in the open air. This will be the first time that Malta has hosted the contest having only started participating in the contest in 2015.
The last edition of Eurovision Young Dancers was held in 2015, the venue for the contest was the New Theatre in Pilsen. A total of 10 countries competed with debuts from Albania and Malta. The contest was won by Viktoria Nowak from Poland.
Source: LTV
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First held in 1985 a total of 37 countries have competed at least once in the contest, including Canada in 1987. The competition is open to young dancers who are aged between 16 and 21 years old. Each country is represented by either a solo dancer or a couple, who perform a routine of their choosing for the jury. The jury will select two acts to go through to the final round which is a 90 second dance off. Each dancer is given 45 seconds to perform and impress the judges, at the end of the performances the judges select the winner.
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Maybe the UK and Cyprus will both return in 2017.