Nikaio Thomashow
Nikaio Bulan Sahar Thomashow (they/he) is a mixed Jewish and Filipino-American dancer, composer, choreographer, and educator originally from the Adirondacks in Northern NY.
They began their training at the Lake Placid School of Dance and continued on to study at the French Academie of Ballet in NYC. Nikaio graduated from Oberlin College of Arts and Sciences in 2018 with a degree in dance. Their thesis on performative identities explored the bounds of how bodies are affected by a person’s history and how this can influence the quality and production of movement. Post graduation, Nikaio served as the Oberlin Shansi Fellow at Universitas Gadjah Mada in Indonesia, where they additionally trained, choreographed, and competed with FREAKINGZ CREW.
Nikaio has worked with companies such as Rebecca Kelly Ballet (NYC), Les Grands Ballets Canadiens (Montréal), Neos Dance Theatre (Ohio), and Daloy Dance Company (Philippines). They have taught for a number of schools in Northern NY and Vermont, including the Lake Placid School of Dance, and they are a current teaching artist for the Misty Copeland Foundation as part of the inaugural cohort for BE BOLD.
Nikaio, as a multimedia artist, has been choreographing, composing, and directing artistic works since high school. In 2023, they started producing pieces under the name of KAŌS. KAŌS Dance Collective creates collaborative, interdisciplinary, site-specific dance works by centering artists’ individual voices and talents. Nikaio and KAŌS have presented works for organizations such as NYS DanceForce, the Lake Placid Center for the Arts, Movement Research at the Judson Memorial Church, and Historic Saranac Lake. They have held residency at TOPAZ ARTS as the AAPI Artist in Residency and at Green Space as a member of the 2022-2023 D.I.G. cohort. In 2024, Nikaio was given the Jadin Wong Artist of Exceptional Merit award by the Asian American Arts Alliance.
From 2021-2023, Nikaio was a company dancer EMERGE125, and they are honored to accompany Tiffany and the other dancers on their tour to Alaska.