The Republic of Macedonia participated in the Eurovision Song Contest 2017 with the song "Dance Alone" performed by Jana Burčeska and written by Bobi-Leon Milanov, Alex Omar, Joacim Perrson and Florence A. The singer and song were internally selected by the Macedonian broadcaster Macedonian Radio Television to compete for Macedonia at the 2017 contest in Kiev, Ukraine. Macedonia was drawn to compete in the second semi-final of the Eurovision Song Contest which took place on 12 May2016. Performing during the show in position 3, "Dance Alone" was not announced among the top 10 entries of the second semi-final and therefore did not qualify to compete in the final.
Background
Prior to the 2016 contest, Macedonia had participated in the Eurovision Song Contest fifteen times since its first entry in. The nation's best result in the contest to this point was twelfth, which it achieved in 2006 with the song "Ninanajna" performed by Elena Risteska. Following the introduction of semi-finals for the, Macedonia had featured in only five finals. In 2016 Kaliopi failed to bring the country to the final with her song Dona, that marked the nations fourth failure in a row.
Before Eurovision
Internal selection
On 21 November 2016, MRT announced that they had internally selected Jana Burčeska to represent Macedonia in Kiev. On 2 December it was announced that MRT began a public search for Jana's entry. The said they hoped to send an entry that delivers a "quality and dignified representation" of the nation but also said they wanted a "modern and attractive" entry.
At Eurovision
According to Eurovision rules, all nations with the exceptions of the host country and the "Big 5" are required to qualify from one of two semi-finals in order to compete for the final; the top ten countries from each semi-final progress to the final. The European Broadcasting Union split up the competing countries into six different pots based on voting patterns from previous contests, with countries with favourable voting histories put into the same pot. On 31 January 2017, a special allocation draw was held which placed each country into one of the two semi-finals, as well as which half of the show they would perform in. Macedonia was placed into the second semi-final, held on 11 May 2017, and was scheduled to perform in the first half of the show.
