Belarus will participate in the Eurovision Dance Contest 2009 for the first time, BelTA has learnt from Alexander Martynenko, Deputy Chairman of the National State TV and Radio Company (Belteleradiocompany).
The Eurovision Dance Contest is organized by European Broadcasting Union. The dance contest is very similar to a song contest. A pair should consist of one professional and one celebrity dancer. A professional jury and audience evaluate the participants.
Belteleradiocompany starts a television project to choose a pair. All pairs have to include one professional and a local celebrity- singer, actor, etc. The winners of the project will dance for Belarus at the international contest, which is to be held in Baku, Azerbaijan, in September.
Belateleradiocompany broadcast two previous dance contests. According to Alexander Martynenko, Eurovision Dance Contest, Eurovision Song Contest and Junior Eurovision Song Contest are very popular among the audience and have very high rating in Belarus.
The Eurovision Dance Contest 2008, which took place in Glasgow, Scotland, featured 14 dance pairs from different countries. The winners of the contest were Marcin Mroczek and Edyta Herbus from Poland, Tatiana Navka and Alexander Litvinenko from Russia came in second, Serhij Kostetskiy and Liliya Podkopaeva from Ukraine were third.