His electrifying dance show will take you in a real journey from the vineyard in Italy to TV shows in the UK, from tear jerking moments, to laugh out loud comedy, Believe has it all.

You don’t have to be a Strictly Come Dancing fan to appreciate the insane talents of Jus Graziano but also his cast, of which his leading dance lady is also his leading lady in real life, his beautiful wife Giada.

The start of the show opens with four props on stage, all symbolic to Graziano’s life, a chair, dance shoes, suitcase and a glitter ball. Through voiceover and clever use of video, the narrative of the show is easy enough to follow even if you don’t know Graziano’s life story but you will quickly fall in love with his cheeky personality, passion and showmanship.

Act one takes the audience to the vineyard of Sicily and the young Graziano’s dreams of becoming a professional dancer. Here you learn of his sweet relationship with his mother, dancing together in his Sicilian home.

The ensemble plays a vital role in telling the story through superb, sexy and sophisticated choreography by Ardunio Bertoncello and eye popping, dazzling costumes. With them, you find yourself at the Italian dance classes, ballroom competitions and the Amici casting call.

The stand out moment of the first act was the emotionally charged dance number as a tribute to his late twin brother. The simplicity of the stage mixed with beautiful choreography had the audience fall quiet. A real tear jerker of a dance duet to Angel by Sarah McLachlan with Graziano and his partner dressed all in white.

As a ballroom and Latin dancer the ballroom competition scene was highly relatable and filled with humour. What began to developed here on, was not only Graziano’s life through dance, but a sweet love story of how met his wife.

The sizzling Argentine tango performed with his wife was sexy, sensual and strong. You can clearly see the love between Graziano and Giada and the way they connect rhythmically as dancers, makes their partnership one of the strongest in the business.

The dance lifts which were not only performed by Giada but also by the other female ensemble were daring, eye pleasing and gave the show the added wow factor. Trust in the partnerships were obvious and their love and joy for the art of Latin and ballroom shone through.

The Burn the Floor element of the second half of the show was a real standout, with a medley of popular songs symbolic to the countries they visited, such as Gangham style for Asia, including the iconic choreography which added some light hearted humour to the show.

Towards the end of Believe, Graziano’s family testimonials were played on the screen backdrop giving love and support. Being a Strictly tv star in a foreign country away from friends and family is a big life event, but tonight at the Peacock Theatre, his family was in the audience. You could tell how much this show meant to Graziano.

The Strictly Latin medley that closed the show was everything you would have expected for a finale, exceptionally good choreography which was fast paced, high energy and highlighted each of the dancers technical and performance talent.

This highly  recommended show is simplistic, current and will be loved by theatre goers, dance lovers and everyone in between.

Review by Steffie Croxson

Believe is currently on a tour round the UK. You can find out more about the tour and its various locations on their website.

If you like this review of Believe you might also like my review of Everybody’s Talking About Jamie, Wizard of Oz and Hadestown.