Thea Garrett held her first rehearsal in Oslo this morning as preparations for the Eurovision Song Contest gather pace.

The rehearsal was held at Telenor Arena, where the festival will be held.

Thea will sing My Dream in the semi-final of the contest tomorrow week. She will be the 11th performer of the night.

On stage she was accompanied by dancer Jesmond Sciberras, dressed as a seagull, as seen in the Eurosong festival.

Also on stage were backing vocalists Jacqueline Pace Delicata, Nadine Axisa and Pamela Bezzina.

At one time during the rehearsal a smoke machine malfunctioned, producing an excessive amount of smoke which disrupted Thea and, especially, the backing vocals. The situation was quickly brought back under control.

Thea in comments after the rehearsal played down the smoke machine incident, saying a door backstage had opened and that temporarily affected the direction of the smoke.

She said however that the rehearsal had gone well. She said the dress she wore today was the one she used at the Maltasong contest but she would have another one for the Eurovision contest semi-final. The plan, she said, was to keep it simple.

She also appreciated the interest by the foreign media.

See the rehearsal at: