The Minsk Arena is ready for rehearsals!

16 November 2018 at 11:46 CET

Under construction: stage for Junior Eurovision 2018 Ola Melzig

Since early November, the crew in Minsk has been working hard to get the Minsk Arena ready for Junior Eurovision 2018. The stage, lights and cameras have all been put into place. Read on for backstage pictures and a time-lapse of the building process.

Just like during the 2010 Junior Eurovision Song Contest, the Minsk Arena in Belarus will be the centre of attention at the end of November. 20 participants from all over Europe will be rehearsing their songs, the hosts will practice, and the interval act will be rehearsed. All on one glorious stage, designed by Galina Gomonova.

Stage & video screens

The huge stage will be made up of a huge centre video screen of 7 by 20 metres, with on the left and right side video screens of 7 by 8 metres. Even the stage floors will have video screens in them!

Light

Such an advanced stage needs to be lit. There will be 800 moving lights hanging on stage and from the ceiling of the venue. There will also be special lights hanging on moving metal beams.

Cameras

The show will be filmed by 16 cameras, of which 4 cranes (these cameras will be able to ‘fly’ over the audience from several sides of the venue), steadicams (which will go on stage and come as close to the participants as they can possibly get) and a remote controlled dolly (this one automatically rides on a set of rails in front of the stage).

Special effects

To make the show more spectacular, there will be a fog machine, CO2 jets to emphasize climaxes in the music and wind machines to blow everyone away.

Props

Every participant can bring a maximum of 4 items on stage, these are called props. For example: 2017 winner Polina Bugosevich brought some pieces of furniture on stage in for her performance of Wings.