Paul Mercurio Online

Choreographer Paul Mercurio says he never saw the original production of Jesus Christ Superstar but he loved the music, and the Norman Jewison film is the only video he has ever bought. Now he’s over the moon to be part of Superstar. “Harry Miller called my manager Catherine Beall and suggested a meeting. We saw the set and costumes, and he played us part of the soundtrack. It was amazing. We were swept up in Harry’s enthusiasm.”

Miller knows that Paul is the man of the moment. He knows that 1992 is Paul’s year. This year Paul has formed his own company, The Australian Choreographic Ensemble (ACE), with its first season at Sydney’s Performance Space. This year he stars in Strictly Ballroom, the Australian film which won accolades at the Cannes Film Festival and for Paul an AFI nominatoin for Best Actor. This year he persuaded the highly respected arts administrator Catherine Beall to join him as general manager of ACE and also as his personal manager and agent. And this year, as a freelance choreographer, Paul joins the Superstar team.

“How do I feel about it all? Good. At times I feel intense excitement and awe. I get a bit nervous. But I’m very lucky, very fortnate. I’ve worked hard and I think I’m standing in a doorway of tremendous potential. I have to make the best of that with ACE, with further films, and with freelance projects like Jesus Christ Superstar.”

Paul was born in Victoria and reared in Fremantle, WA, where he studied dance. After one year part-time and one year full-time in Perth with the West Australian Ballet, he moved to the Australian Ballet School in Melbourne for a year then joined the Sydney Dance Company (SDC) in 1982. Classical ballet, jazz, modern, flamenco, roller-blades–there seems no form of movement Paul isn’t comfortable with. Anyone who saw it will never forget his flying entrance on rollerblades in his dance piece, Edgeing, performed this year by the Sydney Dance Company.

Gradually Paul has extended into choreography. With the SDC he tour the USA, Europe, and the Pacific, and at home built a firm base of supporters among dance lovers who watched him develop with an almost personal pride.

“I left SDC after a decade to make Strictly Ballroom, but I hope to continue my association with the company. Graeme Murphy supported me and gave me wonderful opportunities. Through ACE I hope to continue my choreographic development and give other choreographers opportunities to create.”

Paul says he couldn’t have done any of this without his wife, dancer Andrea Toy Mercurio. “She put her career on hold to have Elise–she’s now three–and Emily who is almost a year. And now it’s all going so fast. I feel as if we’re being picked up and carried along. And if Harry ever decides to follow this with a full-on theatre production of Superstar, I’ll make the time to be involved.”

–From the program