Thomas McManus, Former Principal dancer with Frankurt Ballet
During thirteen years with Frankfurt Ballet under the artistic direction of William Forsythe, in addition to dancing Thomas was also entrusted with setting Mr. Forsythe’s repertory on other major companies around the world—which he has continued to do since retiring from the company in 1999.
In addition to his extensive collaboration with Mr. Forsythe, during the course of his distinguished dance career Thomas has also worked with such accomplished choreographers as Stephen Petronio, Twyla Tharp, Amanda Miller, Mark Haim, Daniel Larrieu, Susan Marshall, Phillip Grosser, Sara Rudner, Jan Farbre, Kathryn Posin, William Soleu, Ohad Naharin, Helgi Tomasson, Gale Katchadurian, Peter Sparling, Ann Marie D Angelo, Saeko Ichino, Saburo Teshigawara, and Paul Selwin Norton, among others.
Before joining Frankfurt Ballet in 1986, Thomas spent five years in New York dancing with American Ballet Theater 2—which he joined at 18 years old after two years at North Carolina School of the Arts (he only began dancing at 16).
Since 1999, Thomas has been a member of the performance group ‘commerce’ which he co-founded with Nik Haffner, and has been teaching improvisation workshops all over Europe. This is his second year teaching and adapting Forsythe choreography on advanced students in the Conservatory’s Summer Intensive Program.