In past posts on Stand-In Central, we’ve covered the Eurovision Song Contest — from the perspective of stand-ins!

Last month was the 2017 Eurovision Song Contest, this year held in Kyiv, Ukraine. Stand-ins again took the stage to sing and dance in the setup for the contest, and videos of some of their rehearsals made it online.

How Eurovision Uses Stand-Ins

According to EurovisionWorld.com, the Eurovision contestants’ delegations send their choreography and other instructions to the producer of the broadcast, who tries to program the cameras and lighting to meet their specifications.

Local music artists act as stand-ins for the actual Eurovision contestants, who in turn perform the songs and choreography in order for the producer to rehearse the show, but also to let the contestants’ merely step in and perform without the need of complicated rehearsals.

As EurovisionWorld.com explains, “It is up to each broadcaster/performer to publish the stand-in rehearsals themselves.” Some of these videos are taken down soon after they make it online. And some of these videos remain!

Rehearsal Process

Before the technical rehearsals with cameras and lights, the stand-ins rehearse their songs and choreography.

Here’s a “sneak peak” into the work that goes into the stand-in rehearsals before the big technical rehearsals:

Stand-In Performances

When it comes to the technical rehearsals, the Eurovision stand-ins give it their all. While they might fake playing the guitar or drums, they still fully commit to singing their songs and performing the choreography, all to help the timing of the camera and lights for the delegations to get good senses of how their final performances will look.

Below are videos from stand-in rehearsals shot in the leadup to Eurovision 2017.

Art Demur, stand-in for Portugal’s Salvador Sobral (who won Eurovision 2017):

Luísa Sobral, another stand-in for Salvador Sobral (also his sister!), does a rehearsal (two angles):

It turns out there was a good reason she was there as Salvador Sobral’s stand-in. For one, she wrote his song, but more importantly, her brother was advised not to travel and was awaiting a heart transplant. This interview with Luísa explains her presence and the importance of a great stand-in:

Drobotiuk Andrii, stand-in for Hungary’s Joci Pápai:

Dima Kotok, stand-in for Norway’s Joakim With Steen (aka JOWST):

Nanna, stand-in for the United Kingdom’s Lucie Jobes:

Ekaterina Bernatska, stand-in for Latvia’s Triana Park:

Konstantin Udovenko, stand-in for Ukraine’s Yevhen Halych of the band O.Torvald:

Eurovision Stand-In Success Story?

And who said stand-ins go nowhere? A former stand-in for Eurovision in 2013 was Timur Miroshnychenko, who went on to become one of the hosts for Eurovision 2017. This video surfaced of his past stand-in work on the 2013 production:

Have you tracked down another stand-in rehearsal video from 2017? Post its link below!