Apsara Ram Gopal

🪔 About

Bissano Ram Gopal (1912-2003) was a pioneering Indian classical dancer and choreographer, widely recognized for introducing Indian dance to Western audiences. Born in Bangalore, British India, on November 20, 1912, to a Burmese mother and a Rajput father, he was drawn to dance from an early age. His extensive training encompassed multiple classical Indian dance forms. He learned Kathakali from Guru Kunju Kurup and Chandu Panickar (also cited as Guru Vallathol at Kerala Kalamandalam), Bharatanatyam in the Pandanallur style from Guru Meenakshi Sundaram Pillai and Muthukumaran Pillai, and Kathak from Sohanlal and Bowri Prasad (also Pandit Jai Lal). He also studied Manipuri dance, integrating these diverse styles into his unique choreographies. Ram Gopal embarked on an international career in the 1930s, becoming one of the first to showcase Indian classical dance in the West. He toured extensively as a soloist and with his own company, earning critical acclaim and being dubbed "the Nijinsky of India" by a Polish critic. His notable productions included "Legend of the Taj Mahal," "Dances of India," "Dance of the Setting Sun," and "Garuda." He famously collaborated with American ethnic dancer La Meri in 1936 and with British ballerina Dame Alicia Markova on the duet "Radha-Krishna" in 1960. Ram Gopal also danced with and introduced several artists who later became significant figures in Indian dance, such as Mrinalini Sarabhai and Kumudini Lakhia. He authored "Indian Dancing" (1951) and his autobiography, "Rhythms in the Heavens" (1957). After briefly establishing a dance school in Bangalore, he moved to England and founded the "Academy of Indian Dance and Music" in London in 1962. For his profound contributions to dance, he was honored with the Sangeet Natak Akademi Fellowship in 1990 and the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in 1999. Ram Gopal spent his later years in London, Venice, and the South of France, passing away in Croydon, South London, on October 12, 2003. Awards & Honours: Sangeet Natak Akademi Fellowship (1990), Order of the British Empire (OBE) (1999).