Artistic Director/Founder

Rasta Thomas was born in San Francisco, California in 1981 and raised in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. Mr. Thomas studied at the world-renowned Kirov Academy in Washington D.C. As a teenager, Mr. Thomas made dance competition history with honors including the Special Jury Prize from the 1994 Paris International Dance Competition, the Gold Medal in the Junior Men's Division of the 1996 Varna International Ballet Competition, and the Gold Medal in the Senior Men's Division of the Jackson, MS USA-IBC. In 1995, he became a member of Le Jeune Ballet de France and in 1997, was invited to be a Principal Dancer with the Hartford Ballet. His guest credits include the Russian Imperial Ballet, National Ballet of China, Victor Ullate Ballet of Spain, Inoue Ballet of Japan, Ochi Ballet, Universal Ballet of Korea, Joffrey Ballet, Washington Ballet, Tulsa Ballet, Philadanco, Lines Contemporary Ballet, Complexions, Lar Lubovitch Dance Company, and Pacific North West Ballet. He has been featured at many galas, including Le Gala Des Etoiles and Spoleto. In 2001 Mr. Thomas was the first American to become a member of the Kirov Ballet of St. Petersburg, Russia. In 2003 Mr. Thomas joined Dance Theatre of Harlem as its youngest principal dancer. Mr. Thomas has danced diverse roles including "Albrecht" in Giselle, "Basilio" in Don Quixote, "Ali" in Le Corsaire and "Death" in Debbie Allen's Soul Possessed. Television credits include a Bravo documentary in 1997, CBS Breakfast with the Arts, Sesame Street, a featured solo during the 1999 Academy Awards and the Spring 2000 international ad campaign for The GAP. Mr. Thomas appears as "Timmy Chambers" in the feature film, One Last Dance, starring Patrick Swayze. Mr. Thomas most recently starred in Twyla Tharp's Broadway Hit, Movin' Out, guested with American Ballet Theatre for their 2007 Met season and was named a guest artist with Japan's premier ballet company K-Ballet after starring in their production of Don Q. Currently he is directing "Bad Boys of Dance" and is working on several new dance projects to thrill the world. www.rastathomas.com