Thomas Warfield has performed, from stage to television to film, in more than 100 cities around the world as a singer, dancer, actor, model, composer, choreographer, director, producer, educator, activist and poet. His numerous performances have taken him to a variety of forums, including La Boheme at the Metropolitan Opera, concerts on Martha’s Vineyard, a circus in Japan, solo concert at the Franco American Institute in France, and three maximum-security prisons in the United States. Mr. Warfield has worked with AIDS patients in Thailand, blind students in Taiwan, the homeless in Utah, inner-city youth in North Carolina, elementary school children in Maui, Hawaii, community building through the arts in Idaho among thousands of others worldwide.
Mr. Warfield is currently Assistant Professor in the Department of Cultural and Creative Studies at the National Technical Institute for the Deaf (NTID) at the Rochester Institute of Technology (RIT) where he teaches in dance and dance related courses in Performing Arts and an original course on Identity in Social Sciences. He is the also director of the RIT / NTID Dance Company, and Chairs the RIT President’s Commission for Pluralism & Inclusion. As a performing artist, his work has been praised by The New York Times, Hong Kong Daily Standard, China News, Rochester Democrat and Chronicle, Salt Lake Tribune, News and Observer (Raleigh, NC), and many others. The British publication, The Morning Star, wrote that, his "...sensitive, superbly trained body filled every word and every movement with bitter meaning." Mr. Warfield has been the soloist at Unity Church in Rochester, New York for more than sixteen years, as well as soloist at the Chilmark Community Church on Martha’s Vineyard since 1988. Mr. Warfield earned a BFA degree from SUNY Purchase, achieving the President’s Award for Excellence. As an MFA candidate, he received a Research Fellowship from the University of Utah in dance ethnology. He studied at the School of American Ballet, Joffrey Ballet, Martha Graham School of Contemporary Dance and Alvin Ailey School. He’s performed with dance companies throughout the world including those from London, Sweden, Hong Kong and New York City.
Mr. Warfield has worked with numerous professional artists including directors Franco Zefferelli and Spike Lee, composers John Adams and Marvin Hamlisch, scientist Carl Sagan, singers Placido Domingo, Beverly Sills and others. As a singer his repertoire spans German lieder to gospel. His numerous acting credits include “The Tinman” in The Wiz and Shakespeare’s Hamlet. As a dancer he’s performed works by Balanchine, Graham, Cunningham, Limon, Paul Taylor, Isadora Duncan, Humphrey, Nijinsky, Bill T. Jones/Arnie Zane, Jane Dudley, Tandy Beal and others.
Mr. Warfield is the founder/artistic director of PeaceArt International—a local/global outreach not-for-profit organization utilizing the arts and the creative process to foster world peace. His work raising awareness about orphans around the world with HIV/AIDS has raised thousands of dollars. He is a frequent guest speaker at conferences throughout the United States on issues of peace and justice, social activism, creativity, and spiritual awareness.
Mr. Warfield is listed in Most Outstanding Young Men in America and Who’s Who. His numerous awards include: the Individual Artist Award from the Rochester Arts & Cultural Council, the Volunteer Award from the United Nations Association, Unsung Heroes Award from the City of Rochester, 1999 Dance Award from the Community of Colors, Creative Community Service Award from the University of Utah, Outstanding Leadership and Moral Sensitivity Award from the Rochester Greater Community of Churches, National Dance Association Award, Diversity Trailblazer Award from RIT, the 2001 Off Off-Broadway Award for Choreography, the Jennifer Patterson Koon Peacemaking Award, Individual Artist Award from the Rochester Arts & Cultural Council among others. His Global Poem In Praise of Peace has garnered global recognition in letters from composer Leonard Bernstein and Mother Teresa and hundreds of others. Mr. Warfield’s first solo album, Celebrate the Moment, has sold throughout the world and can be found on CDbaby.com and itunes.com.
The son of a minister and a conductor, and nephew of internationally renowned singers William Warfield and Leontyne Price, Thomas Warfield began piano lessons at age 4, and at 6 was performing on stage as a 1 st grader at the Harley School in Rochester, NY. Mr. Warfield is a product of the Rochester City School District – writing his first play in the 6 th grade at the World of Inquiry # 58 school, and directing ‘A Raisin in the Sun” his senior year at East High School. Locally, Mr. Warfield performed for over 14 yrs with the Opera Theatre of Rochester; performed with the Downstairs Cabaret, GeVa Theatre, Rochester Community Players, Opera Under the Stars, Webster Theatre Guild, Blackfriars, Nazareth College, Hochstein School of Music, Eastman Children’s Chorus, Young Audiences (where he also served on the board), and the Mercury Ballet (where he began dance training with Olive McCue).
Mr. Warfield has worked as a facilitator/trainer for the National Coalition Building Institute (NCBI) doing workshops for schools and corporations in leadership training, welcoming diversity, prejudice reduction and non-violent conflict resolution. He has presented solo concerts and workshops in schools, hospitals, community centers, theological seminaries, homeless shelters, and correctional facilities; working with urban youth, professional dancers/musicians, the elderly, mentally & physically disabled, drug/alcohol abusers, blind & deaf children, AIDS/cancer patients and many others world-wide. Thomas Warfield has taught extensively in the U.S.A. and abroad on a variety of subjects which include: ballet, modern and African-based dance, choreography, improvisation, piano, voice, drama, poetry, English, African-American studies, art/religion, and classes on inner peace, self-esteem, and workshops on nurturing compassion. He has been a freelance dance critic for the Gannett newspapers.