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A Tribute to Ariana and JoJo at Chatham's Central Theatre is a Siwanator's dream

It's not every day that you get to masquerade as your favourite teen pop superstar, so when a tribute to Jojo Siwa rolled into town, I knew it was my time had come.

Keen to be able to be among fellow Jojo fans - typically girls under the age of 10 - I set off to enjoy the vocal stylings of A Tribute to Jojo Siwa and Ariana Grande at Chatham Central Theatre.

Xenna Kristian as Jojo Siwa (17241527)
Xenna Kristian as Jojo Siwa (17241527)

For those of you not familiar with Jojo, is quite literally a global phenomenon; having been part of the cast of Dance Moms, she became known not only for her hip-hop dancing but her giant bows placed delicately on her blonde head.

Within a few years, she was making music videos and TV shows for Nickelodeon; she's selling her giant, colourful bows by the bucket-load, and there's pretty much no products left in the world that you can't find with Jojo's face printed on it.

As for me, my obsession with the now 16-year-old began when she was on Dance Moms, and I unironically became a fully-fledged Siwanator (That's a Jojo super-fan).

Her energetic, colourful costumes and over-the-top performances sell out arenas; her songs promote having fun and being unapologetically you.

Having unearthed my most colourful outfit and my giant Jojo Bow, I - 23 and with no child of my own in tow- plonked myself amongst the six-year-old girls and their mums.

Kearra Bethany as Ariana Grande (17241530)
Kearra Bethany as Ariana Grande (17241530)

The first half of the show was all about Jojo: Xenna Kristian, wearing a huge rainbow bow (Jojo rainbow bow? Rainbowbow? JojoRainbowbow?), burst on to the stage with her back-up dancers.

It was a delight to see the little girls up mimicking the dance moves to songs such as Boomerang and Kid in a Candy Store.

Xenna - who also impersonates Taylor Swift - peppered her performance with a few favourites from Anne Marie, Dua Lipa and The Greatest Showman.

After the interval, it was the turn of Kearra Bethany who pays homage to Ariana Grande.

Ariana doesn't have the easiest voice replicate - she is famous for her four-octave soprano and whistle tone vocal range - but Kearra did a fantastic job and kept the party going.

She belted out tunes including No More Tears Left to Cry, Side To Side and Seven Rings - one of my favourites because the lyrics, "I see it, I like it, I want it, I got it", reminds me of my appetite for Harrods on my B&M budget.

The duo joined each other to duet This Is Me from The Greatest Showman and Bang Bang, a song which Ariana sings with Jessie J and Nicki Minaj.

Overall it was a fantastically up-beat party and certainly heaps of fun, even if I wasn't the target audience; if only I could have borrowed a child to assist with this review!

To find out more about the show, go to www.sweeneyentertainments.co.uk/shows/ariana-jojo/

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