Rasta Thomas (born
Rasta Kuzma Ramacandra July 18,
1981 in
San Francisco, California) is a dancer, martial artist, gymnast and choreographer. He was raised in
Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. He received his dance training from the age of 9 at The
Kirov Academy of Ballet, in
Washington, D.C.. At the age of 13 he become the youngest person ever to receive the Jury Prize at the 1994
Paris International Dance Competition. At 15 he was awarded the Junior Gold Medal at the 1996
Varna International Ballet Competition. At 16 he won the Senior Gold Medal at the 1998
Jackson International Ballet Competition. In 1995 Mr. Thomas became a member of Le Jeune Ballet de France, and in 1997 was invited by the Hartford Ballet to be a Principal Artist. He has appeared as a guest artist with such companies as the
Kirov Ballet,
Imperial Russian Ballet, The
Joffrey Ballet,
Beijing Central Ballet,
Victor Ullate Ballet of
Spain,
Inoue Ballet of
Japan, the
Universal Ballet of
Korea and
Dance Theatre of Harlem. He is currently dancing at
Pacific Northwest Ballet. In 2005 he debuted on Broadway as the lead character Eddie in the hit musical
Movin' Out, and went on to work with the Movin' Out Touring Company. He also played the role of Timmy in
Patrick Swayze's film
One Last Dance. Thomas was recently featured on the winter 2006 cover of
movmnt magazine.
Thomas married long time sweetheart, and fellow dancer, Adrienne Canterna in March 2007, and they had their first child, Anami, on
October 3,
2007.
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