After qualifying second for the Eurovision Song Contest 2004 , it scored a total of 280 points in the final , making it the first victory for Ukraine . With a mixture of English and Ukrainian lyrics , " Wild Dances " had the distinction of becoming the first Eurovision winner to be sung at least partly in a language other than English since the rule-change of 1999 , when countries were allowed to sing in a language of their choosing , rather than one of their official languages . With this win , Ukraine became the third ex-USSR member to win the Contest after Estonia and Latvia having previously done so . The song was remembered for an energetic performance , which Ruslana gave in a leather outfit , inspired by ethnic tradition of Ukraine . The work on the song lasted for about 3 months . Editing and sound engineering was done by Ruslana together with specialists from Kiev , London and New York City . The recording was done together with a guitarist from Cool Before , and an ex-trumpet player from Zdob Si Zdub . Ukrainian and English lyrics of the song , as well as the chorus and melody , suffered significant changes since the initial stage . The song was bought with exclusive copyright in Vietnam by Vietnamese singer-songwriter Hồ Quỳnh Hương . She has an own Vietnamese version of the song , entitled " Vũ điệu hoang dã "
Eurovision Song Contest 2004
Eurovision Song Contest 2004
Wild Dances