Paul Romano
Philipa Rothfield
A recent arrival from Perth, and graduate of WAAPA, Paul Romano has been working consistently, alone and with others. He has just completed Stage One of a collaborative choreographic project, Transitions (with Simon Ellis, Anna Smith and Eleanor Jenkins), supported by Chunky Move as part of its Maximise Program assisting independent artists. Romano’s work indicates a sustained exploration into the possibilities of movement. He swings between 2 poles: fast, jointed movements, perhaps linked to a string of actions which travel across space; and still, very slow shifts which traverse a variety of bodily positions. His moments of stillness suggest an internal registration of corporeal feeling. He is in touch with his head and spine and their flexible possibilities, using these to construct movement pathways. I have the impression that Romano’s movement is composed of a series of positions that have been strung together to create a fluid whole or rather a series of shifts from one position to another. The result of such conjunction is that the pathways from one position to the next seem more focused on their endpoints than on the passage between them. What could be done to flesh out these pathways? Perhaps further variation in timing, quality and bodily tone/content would enrich them.
RealTime issue #57 Oct-Nov 2003 pg. 42
