| Rasta Thomas | |
| Birth Name: | Rasta Kuzma Ramacandra |
| Birth Date: | 18 July 1981 |
| Birth Place: | San Francisco, California, U.S. |
| Current Group: | Bad Boys of Dance |
| Dances: | Ballet |
Rasta Kuzma Ramacandra (born July 18, 1981), also 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 physicians who traveled 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."
When Thomas was two years old, he injured his leg in a jeep accident, which required physical therapy.[5] He was enrolled 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.[6]
He attended the Kirov Academy of Ballet.[7]
Beginning at the age of 12, Thomas trained at the Kirov Academy of Ballet in Washington, D.C. Although enrolled at the Kirov, Thomas represented the Seiskaya School of Ballet in New York at the 1996 Varna International Ballet Competition.[8] He was sponsored by Gerald Arpino, Arthur Mitchell, and Debbie Allen. At age 13, Thomas trained under Dawei Zhang at the Maryland Youth Ballet.[9] He became the youngest person to receive the Jury Prize at the 1994 Paris International Dance Competition.[10] In 1995, Thomas became a member of Le Jeune Ballet de France. His dance career also included performing as an étoile (leading dancer) at the Paris Opera Ballet. At age 15, he was awarded the Junior Gold Medal at the International Ballet Competition in Varna, Bulgaria. He was the youngest winner at the time, while performing with an injured foot.
In 1997, the Hartford Ballet invited him to be a company artist. In 1998, Thomas competed in the senior division of the USA International Ballet Competition (USAIBC).[11] [12] He won the gold medal at the age of 17, becoming the youngest dancer to win in the senior division, surpassing Mikhail Baryshnikov's previous record aged 18.[13]
He began his commercial career in Los Angeles, dancing in a GAP commercial and featured in the Debbie Allen choreographed 1999 Academy Awards.[14] Thomas conceived and directed Homage: A Tribute to Families With AIDS, a benefit for Self-Help Community Services and its Family Home Care program.[15]
Thomas moved to New York City and joined the Dance Theatre of Harlem under the tutelage of Arthur Mitchell.[14]
Thomas was introduced by the choreographer Vladimir Angelov to Gerhard Rieder from the Kirov Ballet. Rieder invited Thomas to perform in the Kirov's February 2001 gala in St. Petersburg. He performed a dance choreographed by Angelov, "Flight of the Bumblebee".
After filming the movie Without a Word, he moved to St. Petersburg in October 2001 and became the first American to become a member of the Kirov Ballet.[16]
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.[17] 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.[18]
Thomas founded the Bad Boys of Dance (BBD), debuting at the Jacob's Pillow Dance Festival in July 2007. 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."[19] A review by The Guardian compared the show to "Chippendales with a touch of classical class."[20]
Thomas has one daughter, from his previous marriage to long-time dance partner, Adrienne Canterna.[21]
