By Luke Voogt
Geelong’s Robert Tripolino battled bullies and rejection to pursue his childhood love of dance.
But his persistence would instead see him become an actor and, recently, land his first principal role in a major Melbourne theatre production.
“Don’t let anyone push you down for something that makes you happy,” he told Indy Tuesday.
The 27-year-old comes from a musical family, who enrolled him in a ballet class at age four.
“They were always happy to take on a dance floor at a family wedding,” he said.
“I’m probably one of the shyer ones which is ironic given that I’m the one who’s pursued a theatre career.”
Robert, who was the only male dancer in his class, was forever grateful to his family for enrolling him.
“That really helped in getting to know other people around Geelong who were dancers,” he said.
Robert admits he was bullied and said it was worst when he went from primary to high school.
Although some of the nasty comments were more “hurtful” to look back on than they were at the time, he said.
Luckily, he met a bigger boy, a dancer from a ballet family, who became his best friend and “body guard”.
“There’s always going to be people there that will back you up and be at your side,” Robert said.
“Although I never told anybody that I was jumping over to Sacred Heart to do ballet classes after school.
“Nowadays, there’s a lot more comfort for male dancers to be safe and enjoy it.”
Robert auditioned three times for the Australian Ballet School during Year 12 before they told him he lacked “the faculties to be a ballet dancer”.
He applied successfully for musical theatre at the Victorian Academy of Arts following a teacher’s suggestion.
“And I’ve never looked back,” he said.
Robert went on to work with legendary actor Geoffrey Rush and appear on shows like Upper Middle Bogan.
“I struggled to watch it because I was really nervous and thought I was the worst thing ever,” he said.
But later texts flooded in to congratulate him on the role. “It’s an incredible feeling,” he said.
Robert now plays ‘Omar’ in the Broadway musical Aladdin, which is running at Her Majesty’s Theatre in Melbourne.
Omar is one of three of Aladdin’s friends, which the writers of the original film cut in favour of the monkey Abu.
“We’re gladly one third of the monkey. It’s written very well – we don’t have to work too hard to be funny,” he said.
“You hear the crowd gasping when they see the magic carpet – it’s such a fun show.”
The young Geelong actor has an Orlando Bloomesque appearance which he joked could help with his career.
“I do get that a lot. If he ever needs a bad stunt double, I’m the man.”
