Finland’s fancy footwork wins first prize

IRISH dancing took third place to the steps of Finland and Ukraine at the first Eurovision Dance Contest on Saturday night.

The footwork of Mick Donegan and Nicola Byrne earned them 95 points in the popular vote, behind runners-up Ukraine with 121 points and Finland on 132.

Each country’s team did two performances watched by millions of viewers in 24 countries, including those watching on RTÉ One with commentary by Eurovision Song Contest veteran Marty Whelan. The Eurovision Dance Contest website received more than 100,000 visits during the show.

The proceedings were presented by Cork-born television host Graham Norton and Claudia Winkleman at the BBC Television Centre in London.

The Irish duo outscored nearest rivals Poland by 11 points, with Austria and Portugal a further 10 points in arrears, out of a total 16 countries participating. The luck was out for Switzerland, who did not receive any points, while Britain was next from bottom with just 18 points.

“We are very pleased with the successful outcome of this first Eurovision Dance Contest and look forward to an exciting future of dancing,” said director of Eurovision TV Bjorn Erichsen.

The show was produced in collaboration with the International Dance Sport Federation under the auspices of the European Broadcasting Union.

The winning Finnish pair of Jussi Vaananen and Katja Koukkula performed a rumba and a freestyle paso doble to capture the top votes, and have also previously appeared in the Strictly Come Dancing television show.