I went to the millennium center in Cardiff to see the house of Jojo performance. It's a dance show starring Johannes Radebe (Jojo is his nickname) he's famous as a lead dancer in Strictly Come Dancing and he's also a choreographer. Jojo is 37 and was born in South Africa. He now lives in the UK, he was not allowed to be his true self in his home country so decided to move here. He wanted to create the house of Jojo to let everyone know that it's OK to be themselves and everyone is welcome in his house. A house for laughter, fun and weirdness. I didn't really understand this when he said it, so I went home and asked my mum, I then felt sorry for him and felt like it's stupid because he's a good man, and I would 1 million percent have missed out if I hadn't seen his show. 

At the beginning of the show he wore just a small cloth while he was dancing, I think a different costume, maybe a leopard print would have looked better. This  first dance was dedicated to his heritage and he chanted while dancing. This must have been really tricky to do as he doesn't normally sing while dancing but it shows how talented he is. Right at the end he wore this very red fancy suit with massive LED lights off his back and it was so tall they had to move a wall to let him walk on the stage. It was glamorous and it fitted perfectly with the slow march he did with it.

During the show Jojo dressed up as Barbie, he was wearing Barbies cowboy outfit, he had back up dancers with him who were dressed up as Barbie and Ken, they did the same dance as him.Throughout the show it varied between songs if the back up dancers did the same dance as him or they did a different dance.

He changed outfits for every song and chatted with the audience every three or four songs.

Some of his other costume changes had:

Ballroom shoes 

Trainers -street dance

Show girl heels

Wedge platform Heels

Zebra with a mo hawk

Black and white heels for Cruella De Ville

A lamp shade hat

Tudor Queen

His style of dancing was wild, every second they showed a new dance move that was mind blowing, it was mostly very fast but every now and then he slowed down with a few slower songs. Some of the songs are Tyla-Water, Dua Lipa-Dance The Night, Lizzo-Pink, Circle of life-The Lion King, Tina Turner- GoldenEye, Harry Styles-Sign of the Times, All That Jazz-Chicago, Abba-Money,Money,Money, Abba-Mamamia, Florence and the Machine- Cruella.

Between each of the dances to allow time for costume change two ladies sang, they were also really good. The audience were amazed by them and clapped a lot for them.

The second half took you to the movies Jojo said ``If you think the first half of the show is camp, the second half is as camp as Christmas”. I loved the first half but preferred the second half of the show as it was more active, the songs and dances had a lot more energy and the costumes he wore were just wild. The audience all laughed and enjoyed the costumes.

The set design was very cool because of the lights. One second it would be white, the next it would be orange or red or blue or pink. The vibe was hectic and wild and very exciting. I am part of a drama group and think we should try to use the lights more in our performances.

At the end we all stood up and danced and clapped. He deserved his standing ovation, and the sold out show. He worked so hard dancing, choreographing and all the changes in costume. He led the show pretty much by himself and it was so amazing.

I thought it was going to be very chill and calm and chatty with a few dances in between, it was chatty but other than this it was the very opposite. He wasn't calm, he was not chill and he did way more dance than I thought, some I didn't even know they existed. 

He inspired me to be myself, be happy and enjoy myself. It taught me to believe in myself more and make what you want to do happen.

I hadn't been to a professional dance show before. Hopefully going to see him next year, I would 100% recommend going to see him. My heart was pumping trying to get out my chest, the music was loud and intense. The speakers were vibrating. 

I went to see the show with my family they said:

“Beautiful storytelling by Jojo spoken and in dance with support from amazing dancers.

High energy and emotional.

With sparkly costumes and uplifting music.

A wonderful night out ❤” 

Sue

“12 strong and dynamic dancers. Before each part of the show JoJo would talk to the audience and tell them more about himself and how he came to choreograph each piece.” “ I would definitely go to see him again.”

Laura

Thanks for reading :)