Joel Tommy

Nationality: South African

Height: 165cm

Hair colour: Dark Brown

Eye colour: Brown

Joel started training in Spanish Dance under Fiona Rodel, and at the tender age of fourteen, he was invited as a member and toured to London as a guest performer. He furthered his dance abilities in contemporary dance under Candice Johnstone. He also shares an interest in musical theatre and singing, and his background training involved Robin Williams and Junita Van Dijk. During his studies at NMMU he got the opportunity to perform with the NMMU choir on an international platform representing Africa at the International Federation of Choral Music in Argentina 2011, Shanghai, and Beijing 2012.

He then moved to Pretoria/Johannesburg and enrolled at TUT where he was selected for an accelerated program and received training from South Africa’s well-known mentors Christopher & Tanya Montegue, Kelsey Middleton, Megan Rosenberg, Tabo Rapoo, in (Classical Ballet, Contemporary, Tap, African & Afro-fusion Dance, Jazz, Pas de Deux work and choreography composition), In his first year at TUT he danced in works by renowned South African choreographers Timothy Le Loux and Kelsey Middleton in the Evolution season for the Grahamstown National Arts Festival 2013. In 2014 he participated in choreographies hosted by Arts Alive and danced at South African Iconic Woman in Dance Vikki Karra’s tribute at the Arena South African State Theatre.

Joel then joined the professional Kmad Dance Company under the mentorship and directorship of Kelsey Middleton where he danced in Christopher Kindo’s Me&You at Dance for a Cure at the Lyric Theatre, and Kmad’s production “NO AIR” which won a Standard Bank Standing Ovation Award at the Grahamstown National Arts Festival 2014. He continued to dance with the company and performed in the LYFTAAL production at the National Arts Festival and the DEDICATION production at the Lyric Theatre in 2015.

Joel had performed in productions at the Dance Umbrella UJ Theatre and as a guest performer in the Jozi Youth Dance Company’s season Ecouter. He toured to Helsinki and performed at the World Gymnaestrada with the South African Gymnastics Federation representing the country in Finland. Joel featured in The Catalyst short film, winner in the category film directed and created by Kyle Goulden, and as an original cast member in the IRIS WARRIORS dance movie with the international UK production company Donroy Entertainment by Executive Creative Director Roydon Turner. Joel then took a leap of faith to Dubai and played one of the lead roles Pixel in the Cartoon Network Lazy Town Dubai Production directed by Italian director Giorgio Forte. He continued to work in Dubai and around the GCC as a freelancer with some of Middle East’s award winning choreographers, companies and agencies such as Sima Dance Company, Dance It Out Dubai, Art of Entertainment Dubai, Dan Bolton Agency, Rumours Entertainment, Done & Dusted, Sharmila Kamte, ElationAve Agency, Betty Productions,LarMac Live & Projects and Bareface Entertainment. Joel also participated in the Middle East’s first dance arts festival Quoz Fest where he premiered a co-choreographed work with New York dancer and choreographer Amanda Carlson and received raved reviews. He made his debut performance at the Dubai Opera Stage as a guest solo artists in the Sharmila Dance Extravaganza, and recently toured to Pakistan for a commercial film for British MG Motor brand. Also, he can be seen in the music video of Ahlam Alshami.