Rowan Marchingo
Virginia Baxter
Rowan Marchingo and Alexandra Harrison
photo Daniel Bereholak
Rowan Marchingo and Alexandra Harrison
Rowan Marchingo appeared in the 4 on the Floor season hosted jointly for 2 years running (2001-2) by physical theatre company Legs on the Wall and Company B Belvoir Street’s B Sharp program. Evident in his work was what appeared to be a new hybrid with the athleticism of physical theatre combined with a sinuous and sexy, more dancerly vocabulary. Marchingo is a graduate of Rusden College (Deakin University, Melbourne) who also trained for a year at the National Institute of Circus Arts. After graduating, he freelanced with members of the band Augie March (Holistic Invention), with choreographer Jodie Farrugia (InOutside at Dancehouse) and Object! with fellow Rusden-graduate Gerard Veltre. He also worked on a number of youth and community projects including Cyberdance involving 100 participants, before moving to Sydney in 2000 to join Legs on the Wall. Together, the work he choreographed for 4 on the Floor was a duet for Marchingo and Alexandra Harrison focussing on the difficult balance between sameness and difference with which we all struggle in relationships. AFTRS student Madeleine Hetherton’s film of this work is in post-production for release in 2004. Rowan Marchingo balances his workload with Legs (including a recent tour to Berlin and creative development on 2 new works with Wesley Enoch and Chris Drummond) with forays into the community dance arena, working as choreographer and tutor. This year, he’s participated in a creative development with Fling, a young dance company in Bega and choreographed Group Dynamic, a short dance piece for the Australian Choreographic Centre’s Quantum Leap Youth Ensemble.
RealTime issue #57 Oct-Nov 2003 pg. 13
