She-Devils On Heels!

Dana International

VCD 1-15 (1)

Dana forever curses the "singing in a shopping mall" idea.

Dana and two male backup dancers deal with the unpleasant situation of performing in a shopping mall for a crowd of baffled shoppers. She is singing over a backing track that is otherwise identical to the studio version of the song. Dana is energetic and wearing a strange white & black corset with matching bell-sleeves over nylons and bra, usually just shimmying around but sometimes doing some basic choreography with her dancers (everybody get your fans out!)

Speaking of fans, an odd girl in the audience with a jester's hat seems to be the darling of one of the cameramen...she gets quite a bit of attention when the camera isn't zooming up Dana's crotch. After a shaky vocal start (and some killer feedback) it all sounds good, though the video quality leaves a lot to be desired (it looks fuzzy and drifts in and out between colour and black & white). Her black feathery crown is fabulous. They seem to be going for some sort of skimpy renaissance look with the costumes.

Two very nerdy VJ's appear at the end for a split-second: a man in a gold lame suit mocks Dana's soaring vocals while a woman in a greenish-yellow wig applauds. It's pretty horrible and I'm thankful that I'm not allowed to see more of it.

This is the performance that won the '88 Eurovision contest. Dana is accompanied by four backup vocalists: a large woman to her right who does the gospelly bits, and three smaller woman to her left who do the regular vocals. During the number the little women drift back and forth behind Dana, while the larger one stays oddly motionless.

I can understand some of the criticisms of her performance: she sounds a bit uncertain, and her voice doesn't have the power that it has on some of her other performances. It all sounds much like the studio version until Dana throws a vocal curve-ball during the bridge: her melody is unconventionally high and drops down over the next few bars, and I can't figure out whether it sounds terrible or wonderful. I'm thinking terrible, I'm afraid to say.

It all comes together in the end, though. I'm a big fan of her dramatic "Celopatra posture," which she uses in other live versions on the VCD's, though never quite as well as she does here. The cheesy, splashy Eurovision video wipes are fun to watch too.

Surrounded by candles and looking more than a little like Ofra Haza, Dana seems a bit confused by the constantly changing camera angles during this performance. Since the video quality on this one is pretty fuzzy, what confused me the most was trying to figure out if those were really aquariums full of sea-turtles behind her...maybe this was recorded at the zoo? To highlight the strangeness of this clip you can often see the shadow of the crane operator on the floor in front of her.

The song gets a pretty classy treatment here: just Dana in a simple skirt and top, standing more-or-less in the same spot and singing straight into the camera (when she can find it), except during the chorus when she shakes her head a lot. The real dilemma during the song seems to be "what should she do during the long instrumental segment near the end?" She chooses to look at the floor.

Sparse applause at the finale highlights that this is not the most exciting performance in Dana's career, though I don't think that's her fault: the set is cramped so she can't move around without fear of being set on fire by the candles, and the whole thing has an air of cheapness to it that's a little sad to watch. Not to mention the song isn't very dynamic. Oh yeah, and those poor sea turtles!

This is one of the best songs on the VCD, in my opinion: Dana sounds great and really seems to be enjoying herself. She adds some variety to the lyrics, doing some trademark sexy whoops and squeals, all-in-all turning it into an emotional, personal performance. As if that isn't enough you've got two dancers in sailor outfits, boots and underwear, eventually joined by a third sailor carrying two (!) full-size Israeli flags.

This bit of nationalism doesn't come off as oppressive, it comes off as joyous, silly and vigorously campy. During the "march" segment of the song, the sailors salute the audience and do some synchronized military maneuvers...Dana says simply and dismissively, "men." It must be hard to avoid making a political statement in this sort of song, but she manages to do it by almost explicitly stating: it's all in fun.

The song is slightly remixed (a short piece of chorus is removed near the end), and her vocals are quite different in inflection than they are on the original version . The video quality is pretty horrible, but the quality of the performance shines through the muddy, nth-generation look. As an added bonus, Dana says a few words at the beginning and the end of the number for those of you who speak Hebrew.

Wow, I didn't realize she was this "kinky" so late in her career...but I guess if you're going to do this song, you'd better do it right. In a fantastic, tailored leathery coat and bodysuit she struts her stuff on a catwalk, vamping and sassing to wonderful extremes, grabbing her crotch in front of a parade of men wearing...well, baggy zoot-suits, sort of. Maybe they needed the zoot-suits to offset the blatant sexual energy of this performance. Good thing the catwalk is surrounded with water...their final, extended strut will give you freaky goosebumps. That Dana is one confident girl.

Which leads me to wonder: why did she stop doing this sort of thing? Didn't she excel at frolicsome, sexy nastiness? Anyway...I guess she has her reasons.

As you can probably tell from the picture, this video is very grainy...it looks better in action, but it's still pretty unclear. No matter; like Yesnan Banot before it, it is captivating, and it just gets better and better.

Located on the same watery catwalk as the previous clip (but without the horrible graininess), Dana shows her classier, less risqué side with the Hebrew version of "Diva.". I don't know where the heck this particular show is filmed, but it looks like it's in some sort of insanely-sculptured Disneyland within the courtyard of a large housing complex. From the looks of it, the audience is kept safely away from the performers by about 60 feet of watery expanse. Very strange. Oh yes, and there are palm trees.

She does a basic walk-through of the song with lots of swaying and sweeping of arms, and the audience loves it (even more than they loved Ani Ohevet, though maybe you just couldn't hear them as well there).

Not to be TOO trivial or anything, but I really do love this veil-reminiscent hairstyle...a combination of elegance and edginess, which I think sums Dana International up pretty well.

This is an example of a black & white clip that I don't think was originally in black & white...I suspect that somebody's VCR (or a PAL to NTSC transfer) went a bit haywire. Beware, viewers: this one is very blurry.

On a little stage, a band fronted by Dana plays Ani Lo Yekhola, though they obviously aren't actually playing anything. Dana herself is wearing the same corseted, renaissance-meets-the-70's outfit that she wore in the shopping mall for Menafnefet (see above), but without the black bra sticking out or the bell sleeves. I have to admit, I was never too entranced with that particular outfit, but after seeing it in action a few times it's growing on me.

Like her outfit the song has likewise been altered from the studio version, now containing a frequently repeated sample of Dana saying "Ani Lo (something)" over and over again...not bad! The bridge is also a bit different, allowing us some time to see the stoic keyboardist and drummer working away at their thinly-disguised pretense.

At the end -- after some sparse applause -- there is a quick shot of a bunch of blurry, oddly-dressed people standing on a similar set...yup, you guessed it, you'll get to see that clip next!

Spooky adventures in the mushroom caverns.

From the same show (presumably) as the previous clip, Dana is joined by 3 high-kickin' dancers in PVC, most of whom appear in many of the other videos. It's hard to tell what sort of set this is on, but there seems to be tinfoil and gyp-rock on the walls, and I am damn sure that there are big plaster mushrooms sticking up all over the place. The largely-motionless and nonplussed audience is arrayed around the dancefloor, many of them sitting on chairs it looks like they brought with them, though it also looks like there is a set of bleachers back there.

Dana -- dressed in Le Chateau club finery -- doesn't join much in the choreography until the instrumental middle bit where they do a sort of line-dance which I suspect she is doing wrong (your OTHER left side, Dana!). The second half of this dance is pretty cool and spot-on, however. I particlarly like the guy in the baggy shorts and sneakers who sneaks up on stage with his handicam, so blatantly out-of-place next to Dana and her incredible dancin' men. And boy do those men know how to move. Near the end of the song she interacts a bit more with the dancers, and blows a sweet kiss...end of the first half of the first VCD!