Ram Gopal Sivadas (born 1958) is the first born to Malaysian Indian classical dance pioneers (the late) Guru V. K. Sivadas and Guru Srimati Vatsala Sivadas. Ram was inspired to take up percussion by the late Malaysia percussion legend Sri T. Angappan, who was the principal percussionist with his parent’s dance school Sivadas-Vatsala Dance Troupe.

He was formally initiated on the Mridangam in 1971 by Vidwan Bangalore M. L. Veerabdraiah, a direct disciple of the Mridangam legend Palakkad Mani Iyer. Ram first played the mridangam for his parents’ dance troupe in 1968 at the age of ten. He was later trained by Mridangam maestro Vidwan Karaikudi

Krishnamoorthy. In 1992, he married Apsara Gopalakrishnan a Bharatanatyam graduate from Kalakshetra. They founded KSHETRA ACADEMY in 1992, teaching Bharatanatyam in the Kalakshetra tradition.

Among the highlights of Ram’s career as a mridangist are:

• Accompanying his parents Sivadas-Vatsala Dance Troupe during their dance concerts.

• Accompanying Carnatic music doyen Sangeetha Kalanidhi Sripada Pinakapani on his tour of Kuala Lumpur.

• Accompanying Carnatic music stalwart Mahamahopadhyaya Dr. Nookala Chinna Satyanarayana during his workshop on Tyagaraja Swami’s Pancharatna kritis.

• Provided mridangam accompaniment at KSHETRA ACADEMY arangetrams and dance concerts, and to Malaysian dance schools; The Temple of Fine Arts, Kuala Lumpur, Guru Kumudini Sivanathan’s Jaya Nritta Kalalayam, Guru Tanjai Indra Manikam’s Tanjai Indra- Kamala Dance School and Sutra Dance Theatre, as well as International dancers like- Chandrabhanu and his Chandrabhanu Bharatalaya Academy.

2025 marks the 57 years of Ram’s career as a performing artist. A chemical engineering graduate, Ram was heading South East Asia operations with a leading multinational before he gave it up to devote his time fully to help his wife, Apsara, run ‘KSHETRA ACADEMY’.