Today rehearsals for Junior Eurovision 2024 kicked off in Madrid. Countries rehearsing on Day 1 include Georgia, Italy, Cyprus, Albania, Ukraine, Estonia, Armenia, North Macedonia and Spain. The eighth country to rehearse today is North Macedonia’s Ana & Aleksej.
What did we learn about Ana & Aleksej’s staging?
Disclaimer: Please note that the EBU has not released footage from the first rehearsals, and that the description detailed in this article is mainly based from the pictures and if available footage from the delegations themselves.
Ana & Aleksej break today’s mold by appearing alone on stage. The background is straightforward but the outfits are elaborate, and the focus is on the performers and the passion they transmit to the audience.
If you are interested in seeing more pictures from Ana & Aleksej’s first rehearsal today, you can look through them right here.
Who are Ana & Aleksej?
This duo share a great deal in common: both Ana Vanchevska and Aleksej Ivanovski come from Bitola, love math and French classes in school, and have performed at music festivals around the region. Their only difference in interests comes in their most-used app–Ana prefers Instagram, while Aleksej enjoys TikTok. Ana is fourteen, while Aleksej will have his thirteenth birthday shortly after Junior Eurovision.
Ana and Aleksej were selected by MRT following a two-round audition phase and revealed to the public on June 27th. Their song “Marathon” was released in early October.
North Macedonia’s Junior Eurovision Journey
North Macedonia debuted in Junior Eurovision in the first edition of the Contest in Copenhagen in 2003. Their first entry was “Ti ne me poznavaš”, performed by Marija and Viktorija. At the close of voting, the duo finished in 12th place, earning 19 points. Since then, North Macedonia have taken part in 18 editions of the Junior Eurovision Song Contest. The only years which did not feature a North Macedonian artist were in 2012, 2014 and 2020; the last due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
In 2023, North Macedonia was represented by Tamara Grujeska, singing their song “Kazi mi,kazi mi koj”. At the close of voting in Nice, Tamara finished 12th, receiving 76 points. Of these, 39 points came from online voting whilst the remaining 37 were given by the professional juries.
Are you looking forward to seeing North Macedonia at Junior Eurovision in Madrid? As always, let us know what you think by commenting down below. Also, be sure to follow ‘That Eurovision Site’ on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, TikTok, Threads and Bluesky as we prepare for Junior Eurovision 2024!
News Source: That Eurovision Site
Photo Credit: Corinne Cumming/EBU
That Eurovision Site 
Tim J