JUNIOR EUROVISON 2019 REHEARSAL REVIEW

On the 22nd of November, each country took to the stage to have their second rehearsals for this years Junior Eurovision Song Contest, which takes place this Sunday. Not only is this an opportunity for each delegation to test out camera angles, stage design and choreography, it is also allows the fans to have an early preview of what is to come on the big night.

Overall, the quality of performance has stood out this year, with all the vocals, especially those of Yerzhan Maxim of Kazakhstan, Giorgi of Georgia and Lisa Misnikova of Belarus all standing out as some of the strongest in the contest. As well as this, the stage is well designed and spacious, with a flat LED screen allowing for wall projections to be seen clearly, rather than distorted and bent with a segmented LED.

Some of my favourite stage designs has to be that of Ireland, who have chosen a wood scene with slow, sweeping camera shots, which almost creep up on Anna as she sings, which is perfect for a song focused on the Banshee; France, which is vibrant with colour, highlighting key phrases in the song in a comic book style font, and surprisingly for me Ukraine, who have gone with a psychedelic feel with pulsating orbs, breaking apart then reforming in front of the viewers eyes as the song evolves, as well as a beam of light travelling around the arena, and a focus on a dark palette of purples and blacks.

Choreography is also an important aspect of a performance, especially with higher energy songs. The Matheu from the Netherlands, along with four male dancers obviously needed strong choreography for a song called "Dans Met You", also using a picnic bench placed centrally on stage as an apparatus in the choreography and again Belarus, who have pretty much copy and pasted the national final performance, complete with Anime/lol doll characters on the LED.

Both my favourite performance and biggest improvement has got to be Ukraine, as I think that the staging really makes the song come alive, as it did for 1944. The songs peaks are energised and emphasised by the erratic lighting, and the graphics on stage are like art, slowly pulsating and growing to the music. Vocally, Sophia is on point throughout the clip, and is very passionate about what she's sings. Overall, this as a package is just spot on, and I really enjoyed watching it.

Sadly my biggest letdown is Wales - I was expecting more from this staging, more colour, graphics, and general energy on stage during the dance segment, which I think all of the kids should have got involved in (Think Riverdance). I wasn't so impressed vocally either, but I'm hoping that Erin is simply saving her voice for the big night. France has also plummeted slightly for me due to camera angles, which are just slow pans of the stage for a very high energy song, which takes away from the excitement of the instrumental. I also wanted more from Portugal, but wasn't really expecting it to be honest.

All in all, I am very happy with the way that rehearsals have gone, and can't wait to see the full performances on Sunday!