The Eurovision Young Dancers (), often shortened to EYD, or Young Dancers, was a biennial dance competition, organised by the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) and is broadcast on television throughout Europe. Thirty-seven countries have taken part since the inauguration of the contest in ; including (non-EBU member) and (North American country).
Performers between the ages of 16 and 21, from member countries of the European Broadcasting Union, compete as solo of couples to dance routines of their choice. Professional jury members each representing the elements of ballet, contemporary, and modern dancing, score each of the performances. The two participants which receive the most overall points advance to a televised 'dance-off' final, where the winner is decided by the jury.
is the most successful country in the Young Dancers competition, having won five times , , , , and respectively but has never hosted. On 16 December 2017, the fifteenth and most recent edition took place in Prague, Czech Republic and was won by Paulina Bidzińska of Poland, with Patricija Crnkovič of Slovenia placing second (runner-up).
History
Young Dancers takes place every two-years, in parallel to its successful counterpart, Eurovision Young Musicians (another of the EBU's biennial youth competitions). The inaugural Eurovision Young Dancers contest, then known as Eurovision Competition for Young Dancers, took place in Reggio Emilia, Italy, on 16 June 1985. Eleven countries who are members of the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) competed in the début contest. won the first edition in 1985, represented by Arantxa Argüelles. , represented by Arne Fagerholt, and , represented by Mia Stagh and Göran Svalberg, came second and third respectively.
A total of thirty-seven countries having competed at least once since 1985. is the only non-European country to have taken part in the contest (as well as the only country in North America to have ever participated in a Eurovision event), although their broadcaster, Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC), is an associate member of the EBU. Eurovision Young Dancers is also the only Eurovision event to feature a country whose broadcaster is neither a full nor associate member of the EBU, as Kosovo made their sole appearance in 2011 (although they have broadcast other Eurovision events for many years). Bulgaria's debut and only appearance in 1991 also marked the first participation of a former Warsaw Pact country in a Eurovision event, as well as the longest gap between a country's debut at another Eurovision event prior to appearing at the Eurovision Song Contest (with fourteen years separating their Young Dancers debut and their Song Contest debut).
In the entire history of the event, only three contests (2007, 2009 and 2019) have never occurred. The 2007 Eurovision Young Dancers was cancelled to allow the Prix de Lausanne, a similar event organised by Swiss broadcaster SRG SSR idée suisse to take place at the same venue. The decision to cancel the contest was mutually agreed between the host broadcaster and the EBU. The following contest was due to be held on 19 June 2009 at the Dance House in Oslo, however was eventually cancelled due to a lack of interest from broadcasters. The contest would eventually be held again in 2011 when the format was revived as a prime time show.
On 23 January 2017 the EBU announced that Maltese broadcaster Public Broadcasting Services (PBS), who agreed to host the event in July 2015, had due to circumstances beyond their control been forced to cancel their staging of the competition. The EBU also stated they were looking for another host broadcaster but should one not be found in time the competition would not take place this year and is expected to return in 2019. On 18 May 2017, Czech broadcaster Česká televize (ČT) confirmed that they would host the contest for a second time.
On 20 December 2018, the contest was cancelled due to the absence of a broadcaster willing to host the competition. As of that time, and were the only eligible countries to have confirmed their intention to participate in the contest. In October 2020, the EBU ruled out bringing the contest back until further notice.
Format
The format has been roughly the same since the 1985 inauguration of the competition. All competing dancers are to be non-professional and between the ages of 16–21. Participants may consist of solo or couples, with each performing a dance routine 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'.