Last week a video of Dutch Claude’s second rehearsal was posted. The commentary on this video was “divided”, to say the least, because Claude did not sing as strong as he normally does, and fans deemed the act too simple, at least in the 30 seconds that were shown in this rehearsal video released by the EBU. Today Dutch national broadcaster, AVROTROS, released a video with an explanation of Claude’s full act, and the Dutch rejoice.
Below you can find a video by the AVROTROS that shows and explains Claude’s act, in Dutch.
Claude’s act
Claude starts of alone on the stage, showing that we, as humans, start our journey alone, pure and blank, and then two dancers will meet Claude on the runway of the grand Eurovision stage to show that we surround ourselves with others. Claude continues walking, and then he meets with three violinists that will circle around him, and the camera will do the same. He is surrounded by love, compassion, and togetherness. When Claude is reminded, and accepts, that life is all about different feelings, situations, pain, joy, because “C’est la vie” (trans. “That’s life!”), the stage and the picture list on the front of the stage burst into a lot of colourful flowers. Spreading joy in the Eurovision arena and to the people at home watching. When the song slows down at the end Claude dances with his younger self in a mirror, showing that we are all the past, present, and that the future is what you make of it.
Olivier
Claude will dance with Olivier, the very young dancer that plays a younger Claude, in the music video. Fans of Claude’s song and video clip wanted Olivier to be in the actual on-stage Eurovision performance, but since Olivier is too young he cannot participate live in the act, so they came up with the mirror idea. Olivier is there, but in a pre-made video, which is shown on a screen in the mirror, making this a full circle one when it comes down to the music video and the on-stage translation of this video.
A single shot
The act of Claude is almost a single-shot performance with three strategic cuts during the act. This means that everything needs to be very well-timed. The camera crew has to move along with the movements of Claude, and his dancers.
Video about the act
Below you can find a “Dutch-language” video about Claude’s act. The text above is a summary of what is said in Dutch in the video.
Eurovision 2025
The Eurovision Song Contest 2025 is being held on 13, 15, and 17 May 2025 in the St. Jakobshalle in Basel (Switzerland). The Netherlands will take part in Semi-final 1 on 13 May 2025, and will perform as 13th entrant out of 15.