HRT has revealed new information about Dora 2021, Croatia’s national final for Eurovision 2021 due to be held on February 13 in Opatija.
This year’s Dora will be returning to the Croatian coastal town of Opatija with the Marino Cvetković Sports Hall being this year’s venue. This year’s show will be hosted by four female hosts: Daniela Trbović, Barbara Kolar, Jelena Lešić and Doris Pinčić. Daniela, Jelena and Doris have all hosted at Dora in the past while Barbara Kolar will be presenting at Dora for the first time. It was also revealed last week that a new voting method is being implemented for Dora 2021.
The show will take place without an audience, but all those who do participate will expected to be in Opatija in person. Dora participants will be required to have a negative test for Covid-19 before being able to visit this year’s venue. This and a range of other measures such as barring journalists from attending the show in person are also being put in place by HRT and the city of Opatija to ensure the risks of Covid-19 are mitigated. Dora 2020 was in fact the last major event to take place in Opatija, which went into lockdown shortly after the 2020 edition of the show. Coming full circle, Dora 2021 will now be the first major event take place in Opatija since the start of the coronavirus pandemic.
“It was extremely important to keep Dora” – Kazimir Bačić
The director of HRT, Kazimir Bačić is confident HRT can organize a safe and high-quality show that maintains the traditional Dora experience. HRT has learnt from events such as the Vienna Philharmonic New Year’s concert and concluded that the measure put in place at these events would allow for Dora 2021 to take place safely.
“As there will be no audience in the hall, the stage will be bigger and richer” – Kazimir Bačić
Due to the lack of a live audience in the hall Kazimir Bačić has teased that we can expect to see a larger and more feature-rich stage this year. This move echoes the moves made by SVT in Sweden, where it’s national selection Melodifestivalen will feature a stage which uses the lack of a live audience to its advantage.
Image Source: HRT | Source: HRT
Croatia debuted in the Eurovision Song Contest in 1993, they were one of three countries to debut in the contest that year. Croatia’s best result came in 1999 when Doris Dragović finished 4th in Jerusalem. She performed the song “Marija Magdalena” which scored a total of 118 points, this included 12 points from Slovenia and Spain. Croatia returned to the contest in 2016 having withdrawn after the 2013 contest due to a string of poor results and financial difficulties.
