Eurovision Striptease

It’s pointless to disagree with this; Eurovision is the Mecca of showbiz. It started off as a ‘song contest’ during which one could enjoy good music and good voices. No dancing was allowed on stage, long robes and black ties were a must, no screaming in the hall, no flags…just a pure gala event. The contest changed as time went by. Musical styles varied, the stages became more colourful, the venues started getting larger, the audiences became more ‘noisy’.

Nowadays it’s a completely different type of event, described by some as a Eurovision circus. Dancing, surprising choreographies, fireworks, comedians, skaters, drag queens…a complete party. Nothing is surprising anymore, one can expect anything on the Eurovision stage. We’ve had Abba style songs, a grandmother, a 75 year old rapper, songs suitable for kids, Chinese style songs, cave-men style songs, tenors, sopranos, Vikings, many many many Ricky Martin look-alikes, loads of Shakira wannabees…and occasionally we get the great pleasure of a good, normal Eurovision style song!

Something that started off as a gimmick but which has been repeated over and over again, is a mini-striptease half way through the song. Many Eurovision singers took off an item or more of their clothing while singing and this always creates an effect…good or bad. I will be trying to remember as many Eurovision ‘stripteasers’ as I can, starting off in 1981. The contest was held in Dublin, following Johnny Logan’s first victory the year before. Cyprus was competing for the very first time and when host Doireann Ní Bhriain attempted to collect Yugoslavia's votes, the woman who answered the phone (who was evidently not a juror) simply answered "I don't have it," causing laughter to erupt from the audience.

The winning country was UK, with the song “Making your Mind Up” by Bucks Fizz. Their performance, included a dance-routine where the two male members ripped the skirts off the two female members and today this stands as one of the defining moments of the contest's history…probably the first Eurovision striptease.

A shocking ‘joke’ occurred in 1985 when the contest was being held in Sweden. The presenter, Lill Lindfors, became famous for her striptease or "wardrobe malfunction", where her skirt literally came off after passing through a part of the set.

After her acted embarrassment, she only shrug her shoulders and pulled a long white dress out of the top she was wearing, remarking immediately afterward, "I just wanted you to wake up a little." In later interviews, Miss Lindfors herself admitted that the stunt was planned, but not performed during rehearsals. Planned or not, the people in the audience…especially the men, enjoyed the ‘joke’. It was a good and original way to take the stage before the voting started.
 

Danijela represented Croatia in 1998; actually this was her second participation. She had already performed three years earlier together with a group she formed part of (Magazin). In 1998 Danijela performed 1st in the running order on the night of the contest. Her splendid ballad "Neka mi ne svane" placed 5th with 131 points. But what is memorable is the way Danijela presented herself to the public. Despite being a beautiful woman, she was dressed up in a long, black silk dress which even covered her head with a large hood. Yet, as soon as the music reached a climax and it was time for the second refrain, Danijela ripped open her black dress, let it drop gracefully to the floor and ended up in a tight-fitting white dress. The crowd cheered this act loudly and Danijela looked amazing; her eyes shone brighter, her figure looked perfect…OK let’s calm down now!

In 1999 Eurovision was held in Jerusalem Israel. The hall was very small and quite depressing, when compared to the arenas we were getting used to by then. The stage wasn’t so big either and therefore very few performances included choreography. To add insult to injury, the orchestra wasn’t there either and that is when Eurovision became karaoke. But let’s not grumble too much and remember the Croatian singer once again. Doris Dragovic represented her country with the memorable “Maria Magdalena”. Of course this song caused controversy when it was discovered that there were recorded vocalists in the backing track so the country's score was reduced by a third. About the striptease; actually this wasn’t much…but still better than nothing. Doris started the song dressed up in a long white robe; she looked like a Greek goddess. Yet, half way through the song, the singer ‘tore off’ the upper part of her dress revealing a cage-like top which covered her …mmm...her…whatever needed to be covered.

The following year Eurovision was 45 years old and it was held in the Globe Arena in Sweden. After a grand opening, a big anti-climax happened…the song from Israel. I’m sure that you remember “OOO…OOO…Be Happy!”, such a horrible performance. The two male singers in the group also ran up to each other and kissed for a brief moment ! But the second country on stage was the Netherlands and I couldn’t believe my eyes. The singer Linda was dressed in what looked like an enormous black and white tent. Predictably, after some time, the singer ripped open her huge dress, four dancers came out from under the gown and Linda ended up singing in a very revealing silver dress that seemed to have been passed through a shredder! As if that wasn’t enough, the male dancers tore off their own tops later on during the song, so this performance proved to be pleasing to televiewers of both sexes.
 

But this wasn’t the only striptease in 2000, let’s remember the silly song from Germany. Stefan Raab sang “Wadde Hadde Dudde Da”, one of those songs which are meant to cheer you up but make you cry. Thank heavens, Raab himself didn’t take off anything but his two female backing vocalists did. Half way through the song, they just ripped open their tops and for an instant shook their…oh not again…well OK you know what I mean…Of course the audience in the hall approved loudly.

Saku Suurhall Arena in Tallinn, Estonia was the venue of the Eurovision in 2002. It’s a Eurovision to be remembered especially since our singer, Ira Losco managed to end up in second place. But what was so special about the singer who actually placed first ? Personally nothing about her or her song impressed me…but her striptease was interesting. Marie N from Latvia interpreted “I Wanna”, an imitation of “She Bangs” by Ricky Martin. Marie N started off dressed up as a man; white trousers, white jacket, black shirt, white hat…but her dancers started taking off her clothes item by item while she sang…until she ended up in a very feminine pink dress. It was an interesting experiment, but I still preferred Ira to win ! Unfortunately we had to endure Marie N’s presence again the year after at the Malta Song for Europe Festival and once again during the 2003 Eurovision when she co-hosted the event. Anyway, good luck to her !
 

Eurovision 2004 supplied the female viewers with a memorable striptease. I’m sure we all remember Sakis Rouvas who placed third for Greece with “Shake It”. The song itself was one of the favourites and the choreography added more spice to the whole performance. Towards the end of the song the dancers tore off Sakis’ jacket in half so that he could go on singing and dancing in a small sleeve-less white top which barely covered his belly button. I wonder what he has in store for next year’s Eurovision…I assume that you all know that he’ll probably be there again !

Well, there have been more stripteasers, Angelica Agurbash (Belarus 2005) Carola (Sweden 2006), Silvia Night and her backing vocals (Iceland 2006), Drama Queen (Denmark 2007), Guri Schanke (Norway 2007), The Ark (Sweden 2007)…actually even some of this year’s contestants. Diana Gurtskaya from Georgia couldn’t do much except for amazing us with her lovely voice, but her coreographer had a bright idea. Just before the last refrain, a big piece of white material covered all the dancers, backing vocalists and the singer herself and in a split second there was a quick costume change. From black, everybody ended up in white clothes; it wasn’t one of the usual Eurovision striptease we’re so accustomed to, I liked it. Then Slovenian singer, Rebeka Dremelj started off in a neon tube cage wearing a grand coat which she took off at an early stage of her song. Didn’t that coat remind you of Angelica Agurbash? Then there was Dima Bilan, the winner himself who apparently didn’t like his own shirt at all. First he wiped the glass panels of the stage by crouching on the floor while singing the initial part of “Believe”, then he ripped it open towards the end.

Well let’s try and find an excuse for all these artists stripping in public….Oh I think I know why! Maybe it’s always too hot on stage at Eurovision, apparently the air-conditioning system needs to be improved. We’ll see what’s going to happen in Russia next time.