Ram Gopal

Bisano Ram Gopal

Croydon, Surrey

1939, 1947–2003

Ram Gopal, the Indian dancer, and his troupe performed at London's Aldwych Theatre in 1939. During this visit he also danced at a charity performance for the Hindustani Social Club.

According to his passport, Ram Gopal was born in Bangalore in 1917, although some claim his date of birth to have been up to five years earlier. La Meri, the American dancer, visited India in 1937 and, discovering Gopal, invited him to teach her Kathakali and accompany her on a tour of East and South East Asia. He danced in Rangoon, Malaya, Java, the Philippines, China and Japan. He went to the US in 1938 and then on to Europe and was feted when he arrived in London. The press praised Gopal's accomplished dancing, comparing him favourably with Uday Shankar. Ram Gopal received rave reviews and was set to stay in Britain but with the outbreak of the Second World War had to return to India.

Ram Gopal built a dance school in Bangalore during the war years, and welcomed the London Ballet Company to India. He returned to London in July 1947 and was asked to perform at the reopening of the Indian section of the Victoria and Albert Museum on 17 September 1947. Subsequently he and his company were asked to perform seasons of several weeks at numerous theatres in London, such as the Prince’s Theatre, the Adelphi and the Cambridge. He founded a school of Indian dance in London in 1962. He spent his last years in England and died in Surrey in 2003.