Eurovision 2019: KAN presents postcard theme and concept “Dancing Israel”
Israeli national host broadcaster KAN has revealed the theme and concept for the 2019 Eurovision postcards: “Dancing Israel” wil feature famous Israeli dancers dancing with the representatives of the participating countries at various locations, spots and landscapes in Israel.
In the coming weeks the 42 participating delegations will film their postcards at locations across Israel such as Jerusalem, Eilat, Caesarea, The Dead Sea, Mount Hermon, Tel Aviv and The Baha’i Gardens. Some of the chosen locations were selected by KAN after over 6000 photographs were submitted and proposed by the public and Eurovision fans in the course of a competition to find suitable and interesting postcard locations.
This year’s postcards will feature the Eurovision artists dancing in all kinds of dance styles with famous and professional Israeli dancers. Among the dancers will be Stefan, Anna Aronov, Dana Frieder, Or Kahlon, Idan Sharabi, Batsheva Dance Company, Rona Lee Shimon, the Israeli Ballet and the Artistic Swimming Team. Karen Hochma, the director of the official music video of Netta’s winning entry “Toy”, will act as the director of the Eurovision 2019 postcards with production company “Gustavo”.
Postcards are the short clips preceding the live performances at the two semi-finals and the Grand Final. They usually introduce the artists and present the host country’s landscapes, sights and culture in a short 40 second video. Since their introduction in 1970 in Amsterdam and their growing popularity in the ’90s, there have been a diverse row of concepts and themes including tourism promotion, the competing artists and their home countries and backstage material of producing the Eurovision Song Contest.
The initial reason for postcards was the fact that the Dutch national broadcaster needed to fill a lot of airtime in 1970 as there were only 12 competing countries compared to the 16 acts of the preceding year. Nowadays postcards are an integrated part of the Eurovision Song Contest for multiple reasons from entertainment to production purposes: Time has to be filled as the previous act including their props, instruments and equipment have to be removed from the stage while preparations for the next act have to be made.
