"Watch My Dance" is a song by

Cypriot Cypriot (in older sources often "Cypriote") refers to someone or something of, from, or related to the country of Cyprus. * Cypriot people, or of Cypriot descent; this includes: **Armenian Cypriots **Greek Cypriots **Maronite Cypriots **Turkish C ...

singer

Loukas Yorkas Loukas Yorkas () born in Aradippou, Cyprus, on 18 October 1986, is a Cypriot singer and the winner of the first season of the Greek version of the television talent series ''The X Factor''. In September 2009 he released his first EP album, ''Mazi ...

featuring

Stereo Mike Mihalis Exarchos ( el, Μιχάλης Έξαρχος) (born 1978 in Piraeus, Greece), known professionally by his stage name Stereo Mike, is a Greek hip hop artist. He is the first MTV EMA Award winner in the "Best Greek Act" category. Stere ...

. It is a laïko song set to a Zeibekiko dance rhythm, performed in Greek by Yiorkas, fused with rapped verses performed in English by Stereo Mike. It represented

Greece Greece,, or , romanized: ', officially the Hellenic Republic, is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the southern tip of the Balkans, and is located at the crossroads of Europe, Asia, and Africa. Greece shares land borders with ...

in the

Eurovision Song Contest 2011 The Eurovision Song Contest 2011 was the 56th edition of the Eurovision Song Contest. It took place in Düsseldorf, Germany, following the country's victory at the with the song "Satellite" by Lena. Organised by the European Broadcasting Union ...

. A snippet of the song was released by broadcaster Hellenic Broadcasting Corporation (ERT) on 9 February 2011 along with the other candidate songs from the national final, with the full song being presented by the broadcaster on 15 February 2011. On 2 March 2011, Yiorkas won a national final held by the broadcaster, competing against five other acts competing to represent Greece in the contest.

Background

After an open call to record labels to submit proposals, on 11 January 2011, ERT officially announced the six candidates for the Greek national final, amongst them Loukas Yorkas.

chose the song "Watch my Dance" featuring

, written by Giannis Christodoulopoulos with lyrics by Eleana Vrahali. The lyrics are sung in Greek by Yiorkas and features English rapping by

. The song is a fusion of hip hop and

dancehall Dancehall is a genre of Jamaican popular music that originated in the late 1970s. Initially, dancehall was a more sparse version of reggae than the roots style, which had dominated much of the 1970s.Barrow, Steve & Dalton, Peter (2004) "The Rou ...

with the distinctively Greek music genres of zeibekiko and laïkó. There is heavy percussion in the laiko segment, which is uncustomary to traditional laiko. Six acts competed on 2 March 2011 in the Greek National Final. The song was performed fifth in the final by Yiorkas and Stereo Mike. At the end of voting, "Watch My Dance" was revealed as the winner.

Eurovision

Yiorkas and Stereo Mike performed in the 2011 Eurovision Song Contest in

Düsseldorf Düsseldorf ( , , ; often in English sources; Low Franconian and Ripuarian: ''Düsseldörp'' ; archaic nl, Dusseldorp ) is the capital city of North Rhine-Westphalia, the most populous state of Germany. It is the second-largest city in th ...

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...

, in the second half of the first semi-final of the contest on 10 May 2011. "Watch My Dance" won the first semi-final with a total of 133 points and competed in the final held on 14 May 2011, where he placed 7th with a total of 120 points.

Track listing

*Digital download # "Watch My Dance" – 3:03

Charts

Release history

References

{{Eurovision Song Contest 2011 2011 songs Eurovision songs of 2011 Eurovision songs of Greece English-language Greek songs Macaronic songs Songs written by Eleana Vrahali Minos EMI singles