This week, we are highlighting TADA! Alumni Ricardo A. Zayas. Ricardo was part of the Resident Youth Ensemble back in 2000, in productions like NEW YORK, NEW YEAR, and GOLLY GEE WHIZ.
After graduating high school and leaving the Ensemble, he trained at the Ailey School and performed with Ailey II, before dancing with Alonzo King LINES Ballet in San Francisco for 7 years. He was also in the Broadway casts of HAMILTON and HEAD OVER HEELS.
He says, “TADA! was my first experience performing professionally. I didn’t go to a performing arts school, so it was transformative. At school, there was academia, and everything else was just a hobby. Until TADA!, I had never seen kids my age honing their craft. It was inspiring that everyone was fully invested.”
TADA! not only afforded Ricardo his first professional performing opportunities, but taught him so many valuable lessons. “TADA! was a safe space, so I never felt afraid of making those mistakes. As an adult, that lack of shame and self-consciousness has helped me from getting in my own way.”
We are so proud to have Ricardo A. Zayas as a member of our extended TADA! Family. We can’t wait to watch him on the big screen in Steven Spielberg’s WEST SIDE STORY, this December 2021!
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