Pas de Deux (Walter Verdin, Dett Peyskens and Hilde van Roy) were a

Belgian Belgian may refer to: * Something of, or related to, Belgium * Belgians, people from Belgium or of Belgian descent * Languages of Belgium, languages spoken in Belgium, such as Dutch, French, and German *Ancient Belgian language, an extinct language ...

band Band or BAND may refer to: Places *Bánd, a village in Hungary *Band, Iran, a village in Urmia County, West Azerbaijan Province, Iran *Band, Mureș, a commune in Romania * Band-e Majid Khan, a village in Bukan County, West Azerbaijan Province, I ...

, best known for their participation in the

1983 Eurovision Song Contest The Eurovision Song Contest 1983 was the 28th edition of the annual Eurovision Song Contest. It was held in Munich, then West Germany, following the country's victory at the with the song "Ein bißchen Frieden" by Nicole. Despite their first vic ...

, and the controversy surrounding their selection as that year's Belgian representatives. The band was formed by Verdin in

Leuven Leuven (, ) or Louvain (, , ; german: link=no, Löwen ) is the capital and largest city of the province of Flemish Brabant in the Flemish Region of Belgium. It is located about east of Brussels. The municipality itself comprises the historic ...

in 1982.

Eurovision Song Contest

Pas de Deux were one of nine acts chosen for the Belgian Eurovision selections in 1983. Initially, each act performed three songs and the best from each was chosen by a jury to go forward to the final. The final took place on 19 March, when Pas de Deux's song " Rendez-vous" was chosen from the nine entrants as Belgium's representative for the 28th

Eurovision Song Contest The Eurovision Song Contest (), sometimes abbreviated to ESC and often known simply as Eurovision, is an international songwriting competition organised annually by the European Broadcasting Union (EBU), featuring participants representing pr ...

. "Rendez-vous" consisted of just one line of quasi-nonsensical lyric ("Rendez-vous, maar de maat is vol en m'n kop is toe") repeated over a quirky, rhythmic instrumental track while Peyskens and van Roy danced barefoot, and seemed to baffle the conservative audience, a large proportion of which was supporting more mainstream singers Bart Kaëll and Wim de Craene. When it became apparent during the voting that "Rendez-vous" would be the clear winner with the jury, audience bewilderment turned to anger. There were jeers, whistles and catcalls, and many walked out in disgust before "Rendez-vous" was reprised. Pas de Deux themselves appeared untroubled by the reaction, seeming to be quite amused by the furore. The contest itself was held on 23 April in

Munich Munich ( ; german: München ; bar, Minga ) is the capital and most populous city of the States of Germany, German state of Bavaria. With a population of 1,558,395 inhabitants as of 31 July 2020, it is the List of cities in Germany by popu ...

, and "Rendez-vous" proved unsuccessful, finishing in 18th place of the 20 entries, having received points from only the UK,

Spain , image_flag = Bandera de España.svg , image_coat = Escudo de España (mazonado).svg , national_motto = ''Plus ultra'' (Latin)(English: "Further Beyond") , national_anthem = (English: "Royal March") , i ...

and

Portugal Portugal, officially the Portuguese Republic ( pt, República Portuguesa, links=yes ), is a country whose mainland is located on the Iberian Peninsula of Southwestern Europe, and whose territory also includes the Atlantic archipelagos of ...

. Despite the poor result however, "Rendez-vous" has come to be highly regarded in Eurovision circles, being seen as a prime example of a song which in terms of style and performance was too contemporary and risky to succeed with the then somewhat conservative Eurovision juries.

After Eurovision

"Rendez-vous" reached the Belgian top 30, but a follow up single, "Manimeme", went unnoticed and the group soon disbanded. Verdin went on to become a video artist and van Roy a television journalist, while Peyskens continued singing and acting.imdb.com
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Discography

Singles * 1982: "The Lonely Guys" * 1983: "Rendez-vous" * 1983: "Manimeme" Mini album * 1982: ''Des Tailles'' * 1983: ''Axe Ends''

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Pas de Deux Belgian pop music groups Eurovision Song Contest entrants for Belgium Eurovision Song Contest entrants of 1983

Eurovision Song Contest

After Eurovision

Discography

See also

References