Ram Gopal (1912-2003) - 'The Indian Nijinsky'

Most often for me, performances don't reach across cultures and eras. But those of Ram Gopal do.

It may sound patronising to use the Polish critic Tadeus Zelinski's tag 'The Indian Nijinky', but it gives a sense of Gopal's international stature as a dancer.

The footage I've put together is from 'The Lord Shiva Dance' (1948).

As a footnote, Gopal was more than passingly interested in Western ballet, having for a time a partnership with the great Diaghilev Ballets Russes era star, Dame Alicia Markova.

Category:

Film & Animation

Tags:

• Ram Gopal
• Indian dance

[SufitMusic]

So many familiar figures from the book Baron Of The Ballet, which I got as a Christmas present in 1956! You've brought them to life! Thank you! x

[nickwallacesmith]

@SufitMusic - i love that book - i bought it a young theatre goer in a small ballet bookshop just near trafalgar square - curiously i saw the owner now an old man being interviewed in a ballet context recently. cheers

[MrMoshebanai]

yoga is a use to learn to breath so you can actually start to learn to dance ((( :  if you can control your breath... it means you can start to dance... all you have learned, you have put together so you can dance the Shiva Dance.. to find sacred love, it´s the first key

[nickwallacesmith]

hi MrMoshebanai - thanks for sharing - and yes to find sacred love is the real thing.

[pluto1928]

I visited Ram Gopal twice,not long before he died. I said I enjoyed his Eagle dance and he said that it was his favourite dance

That was way back. It was a great honour for me to meet him. He was so frail but enjoyed talking, and I gather meeting people.

Pat Hursey

[nickwallacesmith]

hi pat - how very lucky to have met Ram Gopal - twice - and that he was still happy engaging new people! from interviews he gave he had a bigness that crossed cultures - being Indian i guess he understood the British mentality and could cross this barrier - which i understand coming from a colonial situation too. cheers!

[pluto1928]

Thanks Nick for replying. Ram was wearing a huge topaz which he said was his zodiac stone. I think he put on his best attire for .me. He had very long fingers and demonstrated some arm movements,most elegantly. Indian dance is always graceful. I have tried Bharat Natyam..It was a pity that he was living in a retirement home and had to keep all his belongings in his room. There is a portrait of him in the Nat.Portrait Gallery in London, most colourful and well placed.

[nickwallacesmith]

hi Shnaggles - very glad you enjoyed seeing the video - your great uncle was an amazing dancer, one admired greatly by ballet dancers like dame alicia markova - you know you can download videos from you tube so that you have them permanently? best

[Shnaggles]

many many thanks, never seen my great uncle perform!