Dana is returning to the Eurovision Song Contest after a 13-year interlude, having won the 1998 contest in Birmingham, UK with the song Diva. Says Dana: “In three years I'm going to look like a grandmother, and I just told myself that I had to do this once again.” She joked that the conference lighting, her heavy makeup, and her distance to audience of journalists were her secrets to looking beautiful.
This time she is here to have fun and go to parties and claims not to care how she places, though she would of course be thrilled if she wins.
Dana seems pleased with her performance now: “It was a nice rehearsal - I liked myself (laughs). In the last rehearsal I didn't like myself. I asked the designer [Jean Paul Gaultier] to make a dress that would be comfortable to walk in. I do not want to fall again.” This joke was a reference to when, as a host of the 1999 show in Jerusalem, she fell while presenting a heavy trophy to the winner. Although there are several steps on the Esprit Arena stage and she will be wearing high heels, Dana does not intend to fall again.
When a journalist observed that her nails were painted only on one hand this morning, Dana confessed that she had been so nervous the night before that she had forgotten to finish painting the other hand. She complemented the journalist on how observant he was and then joked that the only reason he noticed was because he was gay. “Straight guys only notice my breasts and my butt!”
When asked if she was a real diva (like her 1998 title song), Dana responded: “'Diva' has a slang meaning of being divine. I'm not. If you knew me and were my friend back in Israel, you'd be surprised. I don't like to be dressed up. I really don't come close to being a diva.”
However, she does confess that her personality has evolved during her career: “When I started, I was very young and didn't know what was happening. I used to be a 'yes' girl. I'm a bit smarter now, more involved in the whole production. And I have much more to say. I'm a big witch now!”
