No Speed Bumps

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 - partly, I'll admit, through the fluid sensuality of the dancing.

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.

Ram Gopal meeting Vaslav Nijinsky (c.1950)

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







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.

Ram Gopal with Dame Alicia Markova

I don't want to go on too much - I was just interested to see if any of you guys responded similarly to the performance.

So is it a thumbs up or down situation?