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Cheerful "Cheesecake" for Belarus

03 May 2014 at 17:27 CEST
TEO represented Belarus in 2014 with the song 'Cheesecake' EBU

Before going to his soundcheck, Teo visited Eurovision.tv: "I'm feeling great, can't wait to go on stage again", he told us, smiling to the camera. One question has been in our minds for a long time: His official preview video had two main characters - himself, and a girl who we so far haven't spotted in Copenhagen. "Unfortunately she had to stay at home indeed", he told us. He joked: "She just has too many dresses, it would have been a lot of excess luggage if we brought her here."

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The real name of the Belarusian artist is Yuriy Vaschuk, Teo is only his stage name: "Once, when I opened Google and just typed 'T', Teo was the first word that came up, and I instantly liked it", he explains. Soon he will be going on stage for his second rehearsal in the B&W Hallerne in Copenhagen.


The Belarusian act is one of the most energetic and cheerful in the 2014 Eurovision Song Contest. Teo walks on stage from the back, instantly starting the captivating choreography with his backing dancers. They start in a V-shaped formation which is filmed from above.

All artists on stage wear official-looking black suits and white shirts, and the stage scene keeps changing from dark blue to red and yellow. At the end of his song Cheesecake, Teo throws at a kiss at the camera.

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"I love to teach my friends my dance steps"

"We did three run-throughs in today's rehearsal, which went pretty well. We did our choreography, only a few problems appeared with our microphones but I think it will be fine in the next rehearsal", Teo commented on today's rehearsal.

So, where did Teo get the idea for his dance steps? "I created the steps myself, the idea came to me a long time ago, and I love to teach my friends how to do it. I taught the contestants from Malta and Greece, for example."

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"The atmosphere between the artists here is very good. We already became friends at Eurovision in Concert in Amsterdam", he went on.

One journalist asked how traditional Belarusian music has influenced Teo's own style. "Yes, it's true. As a part of this TV project we found old Belarusian songs and gave them a new life. It's important for our culture to save those songs and preserve them."

"I cannot say what I like more - to be a singer, a song writer or an arranger", Teo told about his musical background.

As Dmitry Novak, co-writer of Cheesecake, explained, the song was written in very short time: "It was a funny story how we created the song - we just had six hours before the deadline of the national selection - we wrote it on the night from Saturday to Sunday."

"I do love cheesecake, but not as much as I liked it before the national selection - I was asked by so many journalists to taste it, and I've even learned to bake it myself", he said.