Rasta Thomas

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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.