JESC 2018 | Day 2: The first rehearsals continue - part 1

Today Chris and Jess were back in the Minsk Arena to watch the next ten participants of the Junior Eurovision 2018 take to the stage in the Minsk Arena for their first rehearsals. Today will see Italy, Kazakhstsan, Poland, Portugal, Russia, Serbia, The Netherlands, Ukraine, and Wales perform at their first rehearsals. Let's see how they got on!

Italy - Marco and Melissa - "What Is Love?"

Photo courtesy of junioreurovision.tv

Italian duo Marco and Melissa were first up on stage today, and we think they could be real contenders for the cute factor in this years contest! The one thing that seems prevalent in their performance is the idea of fairytales and Melissa looks every bit the princess in her lovely yellow dress. With a looming castle behind them and a swing to the left of them, we feel Marco and Melissa are bringing us all in to their world. They are singing their little hearts out, and we must say they sound amazing on that stage! We here at EuroVoxx think this will do very well for Italy.

Kazakhstan - Daneliya Tuleshova - "Ózińe sen"

Photo courtesy of junioreurovision.tv

Up next is Daneliya from Kazakhstan! Looking every bit beautiful in a simple, yet striking white dress. Surrounded by a maze of cogwheels and fairytale graphics, with a beautiful, rich colour, Daneliya really is the golden girl. To start the first rehearsal, there was an initial glitch, but she bounced back with ease. Unlike her national final performance, Daneliya is all alone on stage. Despite having a lot of confidence and stage presence, we do feel that the performance is a little underwhelming without any dancers or props on stage with her. Nevertheless, Daneliya gave it her all on stage and wowed with her impressive vocals.

Malta - Ela Mangion - "Marchin' On"

Photo courtesy of junioreurovision.tv

The third performer today is Ela Mangion from Malta. Dressed in a red tracksuit, which was fitting of the song, she was accompanied by a hareem of backing dancers which added greatly to the song. This girl has sung her heart out, and hit every note very well. We could hear her in the press centre, and you could probably hear her in Malta! The song conveyed many positive messages of hope and "Marching On", and the screens reflected this with her official video being displayed. Both Jess and Chris have differing opinions on this as Jess is not 100 per cent sold on the staging whereas Chris really likes the staging. Also, the Piano on stage was a nice touch, and shows yet another talent of Ela, however Jess felt that it had no impact. A good solid performance though, and something in which Ela can only build on.