Rasta Thomas


Rasta Kuzma Ramacandra, known as Rasta Thomas, is an American dancer and choreographer. He is the founder of Bad Boys of Dance.

Early life

Rasta Thomas was born on July 18, 1981, in San Francisco, California, and was raised in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. His parents were both physicians who travelled often, which exposed Thomas to a variety of cultures during his upbringing. In a 1998 interview with the Christian Science Monitor, Thomas stated that this exposure contributed to his development as a dancer by making him "more open-minded about movement and about what people have to offer."
When Thomas was two years old, he injured his leg in a jeep accident, which led to therapeutic physical therapy. Thomas' father enrolled him in taekwondo lessons at the age of three. At the age of seven, Thomas was enrolled in ballet classes by his father as a disciplinary measure in response to concerns about his behavior toward teachers. At eight, his father signed him up for gymnastics and swimming.
Thomas entered the commercial competition circuit, winning StarQuest, Showbiz, and Star Power dance contests. His dance career also included performing as an étoile at the Paris Opera Ballet.
Beginning at age twelve, Thomas trained at the Kirov Academy of Ballet in Washington, D.C. At age thirteen, Thomas trained under Dawei Zhang at the Maryland Youth Ballet. At age thirteen, he became the youngest person to receive the Jury Prize at the 1994 Paris International Dance Competition. In 1995, Thomas became a member of Le Jeune Ballet de France.
Although enrolled at the Kirov, which had a policy of sending only select dancers to win gold, Thomas represented the Seiskaya School of Ballet in New York at the 1996 Varna International Ballet Competition. He was sponsored by Gerald Arpino, Arthur Mitchell, and Debbie Allen.
At age fifteen, he was awarded the Junior Gold Medal at the event, becoming the youngest to win despite a foot injury sustained in a karate class. After his win, The New York Times wrote, "Look out, world. Rasta Thomas has arrived."
In 1997, Thomas was invited by the Hartford Ballet to be an artist. At the 1998 USA International Ballet Competition, Thomas won the gold medal, a scholarship, and a cash prize in the senior men's division.

Professional career

In 1998, Rasta Thomas competed in the senior division of the USA International Ballet Competition. Thomas won the gold medal and, at seventeen, became the youngest to win in the senior division, surpassing Mikhail Baryshnikov's previous record at the age of eighteen. Later that year, Thomas and three other dancers, including Adrienne Canterna, originated a piece for the tenth season of the Vail International Dance Festival. The couple performed at the festival again in 1999.
Upon returning to the US, he began his commercial career in Los Angeles, hiring an agent, dancing in a GAP commercial, and performing a solo in the Debbie Allen choreographed 1999 Academy Awards. Thomas conceived and directed Homage: A Tribute to Families With AIDS, a benefit for Self-Help Community Services and its Family Home Care program. After a conversation with his mentor, Arthur Mitchell, he decided to "get back on an artist's path."
Thomas moved to New York City and joined the Dance Theatre of Harlem under the tutelage of Mitchell. Instead of signing to another company, Thomas decided to become a guest dancer. While Thomas was dining with choreographer Vladimir Angelov, a friend told Thomas that he was wasting his talent by only performing at galas. Angelov agreed, remarking that excellent dancers are expected to belong to premier companies.
Thomas was introduced by Angelov to Gerhard Rieder from the Kirov Ballet in Europe, who in turn introduced Thomas to Kirov's company manager, Makharbek Vaziev. Rieder invited Thomas to perform in the Kirov's February 2001 three-hour gala in St. Petersburg. He performed a dance choreographed by Angelov, "Flight of the Bumblebee," which received a positive reception, including from Valery Gergiev, the artistic director of the Kirov. Vaziev invited Thomas to a residency with the ballet and a stipend of $150 a month while granting him the freedom to accept independent work. Thomas declined this offer due to a filming commitment in the movie Without a Word, so Vaziev extended his invitation to the fall.
After filming, Thomas decided to dance for six months in Russia with the Kirov Ballet and moved to St. Petersburg as the first American to become a member of the Kirov in October 2001. While there, he most notably danced as Swan Lake's Jester, Carmen's bullfighter, and Le jeune homme et la Mort's Young Man.
Thomas has appeared as a guest artist with companies including Dance Theatre of Harlem, Washington Ballet, City Dance, Baryshnikov's White Oak Dance Company, Lar Lubovitch Dance Company, Loundin Ballet, Orlando Ballet, K-ballet, Alonzo King's LINES Ballet, Complexions Contemporary Ballet, DanceBrazil, Rafael Amargo Dance Company, Universal Ballet, Danza Contemporanea de Cuba, American Ballet Theatre, Kirov Ballet, Pacific Northwest Ballet, etc. 1990-2000: Le Jeune Ballet de France, Joffrey Ballet, Maryland Youth Ballet, Arlington Dance Theatre, Tulsa Ballet, Victor Ullate, National Ballet of China, Ballet Hartford, Inoue Ballet, Philadelphia Dance Company, and Imperial Russian Ballet.
Thomas danced in the ABT at the Metropolitan Opera House as a guest artist in a Lar Lubovitch production of Othello. He also played the role of Timmy in Patrick Swayze's 2005 DVD One Last Dance. In 2005, Thomas performed a solo in Lubovitch's US debut of Elemental Brubeck. Dance Magazine, in response to his performance, said "A creature of the stage, his presence is magnetic, and he relishes all the scrutiny he demands." NY Critic The New York Times said that the success of the piece can be credited to the "innate good taste and nuanced phrasing that informs Mr. Thomas's spectacular, crystal-clear performance". That same year, he debuted on Broadway as the lead character Eddie in the musical Movin' Out and later worked with the Movin' Out touring company. Thomas was featured on the winter 2006 cover of movmnt magazine. He choreographed and performed a stand-alone acrobatic ballet solo for "Poetry in New York," a flamenco musical by Rafael Amargo. In late 2008, Thomas gathered several young dancers and invited them to judge an open video competition, where amateurs could enter a three-minute video of their solos via YouTube or divacompetition.com. In July 2008, Thomas and 11 other gold-medal winners of previous USAIBC competitions were included in a one-night-only IBC Reunion Gala in Jackson, Mississippi.
Thomas was interviewed for the book The Dancer Within: Intimate Conversations with Great Dancers by Rose Eichenbaum, a collection of interviews with prominent dancers. "Residing in the Body". Dance Magazine. The book accompanied Eichenbaum's touring photography exhibition, also called The Dancer Within, which sought to celebrate "the act of dancing and the lives of dancers."

Bad Boys of Dance

In 2007, Thomas founded the Bad Boys of Dance. BBD selected dancers with technical backgrounds from competitions, Broadway, and Juilliard, among others. Their debut performance was at the Jacob's Pillow Dance Festival in July 2007. While the initial critical response was mixed, the popular response was enthusiastic. After seeing one of their early performances, Jennifer Dunning of The New York Times called it "the dance equivalent of a water-bomb gang," remarking that Thomas's performance displayed "theatrical intelligence" and concluded that BBD "resembles a group of friends, gifted performers with individual presences who enjoy one another's company and blessedly have not an ounce of earnestness in them."

Personal life

Thomas has one daughter, Anami Halo Ramacandra. He was married to his long-time dance partner, Adrienne Canterna.

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