The search for the ten best professional dancers can begin when the brand new ORF show “Dancing Stars – Das Casting” starts on November 8, 2024, every Friday at 8:15 p.m. on ORF 1 and 24 hours beforehand on ORF ON. The future “Dancing Stars” professionals have to master challenges on the dance floor with dance-loving amateurs in order to get their professional ticket for “Dancing Stars 2025”. Two of them – a professional dancer and a professional dancer – will then be part of the new “Dancing Stars” season from March 2025. In five episodes, ORF 1 and ORF ON will show the journey of the most promising candidates – from the first day of the open casting to the big final decision by the jury that determines the next “Dancing Stars” professionals. The show is moderated by Andi Knoll.
The jury: Maria Angelini-Santner, Balázs Ekker and Missy May as well as Bruce Darnell in the final
The jury consists of Maria Angelini-Santner, Balázs Ekker and Missy May and will be joined by Bruce Darnell in the final. Your task in episodes one and two is to select professionals and amateurs. From episode three onwards, the jury awards points from one to ten for the participants’ performances. When preparing for their challenges, the aspiring professionals are supported by experienced “Dancing Stars” professionals – including Kathrin Menzinger, Conny Kreuter, Danilo Campisi and Vadim Garbuzov.
Balázs Ekker: “Insanely emotional, incredibly real”
“’Dancing Stars – The Casting’ is incredibly emotional, incredibly real and of high quality dancing because professionals had to compete with professionals,” says Balázs Ekker, giving a first taste of the new ORF show. “It was nice to see how motivated and committed the professionals were, that they really took their chance and fought to be selected.” Maria Angelini-Santner continued: “You can expect an exciting and varied show, especially because This time it’s about the professional dancers and the tables are turning a bit. We on the jury were able to be much more direct and professional – from professional to professional, and that’s what makes the show so unique.” “Dancing Stars” 2023 winner Missy May on her role as a juror: “I thought It’s almost more unpleasant than being on the other side, because you know what’s behind it when you took part as a candidate and how bad it is to be judged. So it wasn’t that easy for me to find my way to give the right message, but also not to forget that I now have a jury job.”
Episode 1 – “We find the best ten professional dancers”
24 professionals come to the first casting: ten of them – five women and five men – will now be selected by the jury to take part in the remaining four shows. In three selection rounds – 90 seconds first impression on the dance floor, creative presentation in front of the jury and solo dance – the professional dancers show their skills.
“Dancing Stars – Backstage” in advance on ORF ON
“Dancing Stars – Backstage” takes fans in advance on ORF ON to where the magic happens – behind the scenes! Exclusive insights, spontaneous challenges and raw moments with professionals, amateurs and the jury await you in every episode. Here are the highlights that remain hidden on TV – everything compact and only online. For everyone who wants to experience more!
Barrier-free service for audiences with visual or hearing impairments
The new ORF 1 show “Dancing Stars – The Casting” will be broadcast in a fully barrier-free manner: for blind and visually impaired audiences, all five episodes will be offered in an audio version on the second soundtrack. The emotions in the ballroom can also be experienced by people with visual impairments through our own commentators. Sebastian Aster, Johannes Karner, Sebastian Kaufmann and Lukas Osztovics accompany their audience through broadcasts of the ORF casting show with their special commentary. The task of the audio commentators is to convey everything that remains hidden from their audience through acoustic image descriptions: for example, the appearance of the costumes and the choreography of the dances as well as gestures, facial expressions and show effects. The audio version can be heard by switching to the second sound channel (TV) and to ORF ON (stream).
In addition, subtitles are available for deaf and hearing-impaired viewers on ORF TELETEXT on page 777 and on ORF ON. The barrier-free programs are available as video-on-demand on on.ORF.at.