Ram Gopal (dancer)

Bissano Ram Gopal OBE (20 November, 1912 [His passport gives his year of birth as 1917, but his contemporaries insisted it must have been closer to 1912 - [http://www.guardian.co.uk/india/story/0,12559,1061626,00.html] ] , Bangalore, India - October 12 2003, London, UK) was an Indian dancer who performed and toured extensively throughout his lengthy career. The Polish critic Tadeus Zelinski called him "the Nijinsky of India".

He had a Burmese mother and a Rajput father who was a barrister. They lived in a mansion called Torquay Castle.

He was invited to the United States by La Meri, an American dancer who specialized in non-Western forms of dance to tour with her. He made his solo debut in New York City in 1938.

He toured extensively and appeared at the New York Golden Anniversary International Dance Festival at NYC's City Center (1948), the Jacobs Pillow and Edinburgh Festivals in the 1950s.

His creation, "Radha Krishna", was based on Hindu mythology.

The French filmmaker Claude Lamorisse made two films about him: “Aum Shiva” and “Ram” [ [http://ftvdb.bfi.org.uk/sift/title/140054?view=credit BFI | Film & TV Database | AUM SHIVA (1970) ] ] .

He received an OBE for services to dance in 1999. During the 1960s he was briefly married to Edith Alexander, who predeceased him. He died in a nursing home in Norbury, south London. [Theatre World, Vol. #60 (2003-2004), ISBN#1-55783-650-7/ISBN#1-55783-651-5] [ObiTribute: Ram Gopal (1912 - 2003), by Ashish Mohan Khokar, Bangalore [http://narthaki.com/info/profiles/profil29.html] ]

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