An ambassador for Indian dance to the United Kingdom and the world, Ram Gopal was a dancer, choreographer, and teacher. He amassed a rich vocabulary of gestures and movements while studying the classical arts from the doyens of Indian dances - Kathakali from Padma Bhushan Shri Kunju Kurup, Bharatnatyam from Guru Meenakshisundaram Pillai and Guru Kattumanarakoil Muthukumaran Pillai and Kathak from Pandit Jailal and Pandit Sohanlal Misra. After touring East Asia and USA in the 1930s, he arrived to perform at London in 1939 and then in 1947 for the reopening of the Indian collections at the Victoria and Albert Museum. His name became synonymous with solo and ensemble Indian classical programmes in Britain. Gopal’s artistic footprints were all over the globe as his collaborations with renowned dance companies and dancers like La Meri, Ratna Mohini, Princess Krasinky Kshesinskaya, Guru Mrinalini Sarabhai, Tara Chaudhri, artist Kay Ambrose, photographer Carl Van Vechten, critic Alexander Janta, novelist Gertrude Stein, impresario Sol Hurok made his work more popular. He established the Academy for Indian Dance and Music in London (1962), and published Indian Dancing (1951), and most notably, his autobiography Rhythms in the Heavens (1957) and lived in Surrey till his death. He was conferred the Sangeet Natak Akademi fellowship from the Government of India for his life’s work in the field of Indian dance.
