 | This article contains wording that promotes the subject in a subjective manner without imparting real information.(August 2021) |
Rasta Thomas | |
|---|---|
| Born | Rasta Kuzma Ramacandra July 18, 1981 San Francisco, California, U.S. |
| Career | |
| Current group | Bad Boys of Dance |
| Dances | Ballet |
Rasta Kuzma Ramacandra (born July 18, 1981), known as Rasta Thomas, is an American dancer and choreographer. He is the founder of Bad Boys of Dance. [1]
Rasta Thomas was born on July 18, 1981, in San Francisco, California, [2] and was raised in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. [3] His parents were both physicians who travelled often; [4] 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." [4]
When Thomas was two years old, he injured his leg in a jeep accident, which led to therapeutic physical therapy. [5] He was enrolled in taekwondo lessons at the age of three. [4] 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. [4] [6]
Beginning at age 12, Thomas trained at the Kirov Academy of Ballet in Washington, D.C. [6] 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. [7] He was sponsored by Gerald Arpino, Arthur Mitchell, and Debbie Allen. [2] [6]
At age thirteen, Thomas trained under Dawei Zhang at the Maryland Youth Ballet. [8] He became the youngest person to receive the Jury Prize at the 1994 Paris International Dance Competition. [9] In 1995, Thomas became a member of Le Jeune Ballet de France. [7] His dance career also included performing as an étoile (leading dancer) at the Paris Opera Ballet. [6]
At age fifteen, he was awarded the Junior Gold Medal, becoming the youngest to win despite a foot injury sustained in a karate class. [6]
In 1997, Thomas was invited by the Hartford Ballet to be an artist. [5]
In 1998, Rasta Thomas competed in the senior division of the USA International Ballet Competition (USAIBC). [10] [11] [a] 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. [4] [12] Later that year, Thomas and three other dancers, including Adrienne Canterna, originated a piece for the tenth season of the Vail International Dance Festival. [13] The couple performed at the festival again in 1999. [14]
Upon returning to the US, he began his commercial career in Los Angeles, dancing in a GAP commercial and performing a solo in the Debbie Allen choreographed 1999 Academy Awards. [5] [15] Thomas conceived and directed Homage: A Tribute to Families With AIDS, a benefit for Self-Help Community Services and its Family Home Care program. [16] After a conversation with his mentor, Arthur Mitchell, he decided to "get back on an artist's path." [15]
I'll contact the artistic director and try to sell myself to them for a particular role. Some dance companies resist because it affects morale with their established dancers ... I'm aware that it is important not to upset the balance of an existing company and not to give the impression that I am irresponsible or a drifter. [17]
Thomas moved to New York City and joined the Dance Theatre of Harlem under the tutelage of Mitchell. [15] Instead of signing to another company, Thomas decided to become a guest dancer. [17] While Thomas was dining with choreographer Vladimir Angelov, a friend told he that he was wasting his talent by only performing at galas. [5]
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. [5] 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. [5] 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. [5]
After filming, moved to St. Petersburg in October 2001 and became the first American to become a member of the Kirov Ballet. [18]
Thomas danced as a guest artist in the American Ballet Theatre at the Metropolitan Opera House in a Lar Lubovitch production of Othello . In 2005, Thomas performed a solo in Lubovitch's US debut of Elemental Brubeck. [19] That same year, he debuted on Broadway as the lead character Eddie in the musical Movin' Out and later worked with the 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. [20]
Thomas founded the Bad Boys of Dance (BBD), debuting at the Jacob's Pillow Dance Festival in July 2007. While the initial critical response was mixed, [21] [22] 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." [22] A review by The Guardian compared the show to "Chippendales with a touch of classical class." [21]
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. [23]
Thomas was interviewed for the book The Dancer Within: Intimate Conversations with Great Dancers by Rose Eichenbaum, a collection of interviews of professional dancers.
To me means artistic freedom. In this country, you need fame to achieve your career goals to have people listen to your ideas and grant you money so that you can bring your artistic vision to life. The career is too short not to reach great heights.
Thomas has one daughter. He was married to his long-time dance partner, Adrienne Canterna. [24]
| International | |
|---|---|
| National | |
| Other | |
