Asha Thomas (Atlanta, Georgia, USA) is an American choreographer, performer and dance artist based in France. A graduate of The Juilliard School, she joined Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater, where she was a principal dancer for eight years. Since relocating to France in 2007, she has developed a wide-ranging career as a performer and artistic collaborator, working with choreographers including Salia Sanou, Raphaëlle Delaunay, Prue Lang, Boris Charmatz, Aina Alegre and Léo Lérus, among others.

Alongside her performance career, Thomas has developed her own choreographic practice. She founded Compagnie Ima, now Sojourn, as a platform for creation, developing work through encounters and collaborations and often across disciplines. Her creations include CLAY (2016), made with flamenco dancer Yinka Esi Graves; LIGHT (2018), a hybrid performance bringing together dance and live music in homage to American cultural classics; and SOJOURN (2021), commissioned by the Centre national de la danse in Pantin and rooted in family history and her own artistic journey.

Her current research explores Black diasporic cultures, and the ways identity shifts through movement, memory and transmission. Born and raised in the American South and living in France for almost two decades, she is interested in what is shared across diasporic geographies as well as where they diverge.

Asha continues to work as a performer, choreographic assistant and artistic collaborator on contemporary productions. She has also appeared in films including Irma Vep (Olivier Assayas), Notre Dame (Valérie Donzelli) and Eden (Mia Hansen-Løve).

photo credit:   Blxckdreadshots