Maurice

I attended the Durham Tattoo, last Saturday evening, so missed the march of mediocrity on BBC1.

The posts, in SirOllyBolly's thread, "Eurovision Dance Contest", do not mention "Eurovision Young Dancers" (BBC4, 24/09/2005).

So a new thread focuses on that competition/programme - and the need to restore it.

Members may be unaware of the background to the "annual" Eurovision Dance Contest; the second, presented by Graham Norton, was on 6th September.

From 1985 to 2005, there was a biennial competition, Eurovision Young Dancers.

The highly-regarded competition was a celebration of excellence in both traditional and contemporary dance.

Contestants, a solo act or dance couple, must be between 15 and 21. They trained for years hoping to participate.

In June, 2005, the 11th competition was held at the Polish National Theatre, Warsaw, and was shown, on BBC4, that September.

Alex Jones, from the Royal Ballet School, represented the UK with a solo from Marius Petipa's Don Quixote.

The standard was so high that neither Alex Jones, nor Robert Stefan Enache (Romania) - despite a brilliant performance of Flames of Paris - reached the top three.

The overall winner was Milou Nuyens (Netherlands).

The European Broadcasting Union (EBU) took the shocking, incomprehensible decision to "replace" Eurovision Young Dancers with the lamentable spectacle last Saturday.

Surely the EBU and BBC should make room for both competitions?