Thomas Bradley is an Australian dancer based between Brussels and Sydney. Growing up in Cootamundra, in regional NSW, Thomas discovery of dance came through choreographing a Jennifer Lopez routine.

Thomas went to study at New Zealand School of Dance before joining Sydney Dance Company (SDC) in 2012. He received a professional development fellowship from the Tanja Liedtke Foundation and was nominated for Outstanding Male Dancer at the Australian Dance Awards in 2015.

Images from Solo Dance Festival, Ankara Turkey from beyoncé (2018) — Images from Solo Dance Festival, Ankara Turkey *from beyoncé* (2018)

During his time at SDC Thomas performed in the world premiere of Rafael Bonachela’s 2 One Another, Larissa McGowan’s Fanatic, Alexander Ekman’s Cacti and Rafael Bonachela’s Project Rameau with the Australian Chamber Orchestra, alongside the works of a range of other choreographers.

Upon leaving SDC, Thomas has worked for a range of companies and choreographers including Australian Dance Theatre and Larissa McGowan. Thomas is currently a company dancer with Emanuel Gat Dance.

Story Water - Emanuel Gat Image by Julia Gat 2018 Costume design - Thomas Bradley

Increasingly, Thomas has been interested in costume and design and has made costumes for Story Water (white costumes for Emanuel Gat Dance) and is currently in the design phase for costumes for i have loved the stars too fondly to be fearful of the night (Rachel Arianne Ogle, Dance Massive 2019), Emanuel Gat new commission with Scottish Dance Theatre and Sunny for Emanuel Gat Dance for Staats Ballett Berlin).

“my ambitions are taking me into other mediums where there is such a liberation, because I don't know the rules, because I don't understand the parameters because I don't understand techniques, because I don't understand tools, or how to do this, or what I should be doing. You know, and there's, there's such a liberation in that. And I think the most valuable thing that I have at the moment is this costume design situation.”

Image by Julia Gat 2018, In rehearsals with Emanuel Gat Dance

Thomas recently completed an international and collaborative work CLAY, with Butoh dancer Dai Matsuoka. Butoh has forced Thomas to rethink the way he works with his body and has expanded the way he wants to make work. He is currently developing a work with Dai Matsuoka (Company Sankaijuku) based upon a personal essay that he has been writing about gender and sexuality.

“I feel like I’ve started to understand how Butoh manifests itself in my body, because I would never call myself a Butoh dancer. And I would regret saying that I understand what Butoh is. But I'm think that I'm beginning to understand how Japanese Butoh manifests itself in, in my body, which means the beginning of a kind of integration.”

This interview explores Thomas’ journey into dance and his broad set of interests. Thomas is a passionate and creative soul, who will no doubt continue to make a space in dance and in every other creative pursuit he puts his mind to.