Greece is the last rehearsal before we break for lunch. Much has been rumoured about what they’ll do on stage. Here’s our chance to find out. I’m a little underwhelmed by the song, which although good, doesn’t really stick in my head or make me want to vote. An eye-catching performance could be just what Stefania needs.
An eye-catching performance is certainly what she delivers! Rumours abounded of her flying on a winged Pegasus as she does in the promo vide but the reality is a lot simpler than that.
First up, she looks fantastic in a purple glitter catsuit with a cutaway panel over her midriff. The stage has a pink and purple theme, and the busy backdrop is of sky-scraper cityscapes. Some of the performance is shot with her back to the arena where hundreds of spot beams shine in a very pleasing effect.
Here’s the gimmick: she’s using greenscreen technology so that only some of her dancers’ clothes are visible. No, not in a nudity kind of way, but so to appear as if she’s dancing just with a lone pair of trousers or an empty hoodie. It works, technically, though I’m not sure it’s such a ground-breaking effect as we were led to believe. And why would you want to dance with just a piece of clothing?
The effects also hide a double staircase that Stefania and the dancers climb – they’re now appearing as headless suits – trying to make the staircase look invisible. I’m not sure why, as it’s obvious that it’s there and obscured, but hey, let’s go with it. It does look quite effective, and there’s a nice bit where they lift her back to the stage. The dancers finally get a moment to be seen as they join her, corpus intactus, for the finale.
I’m not convinced the special effects don’t distract more then they enhance, but they certainly do one thing and that’s make this memorable. That’s the very thing I felt the song was lacking and is the essence of why, coming into these rehearsals, this year is all about what’s going on on the stage. To that we can call this a success.
Monty x