Sandip Soparrkar

Sandip Soparrkar (born 6 October 1964) is an Indian Latin and ballroom dancer, choreographer, actor, columnist, Philanthropist, Dance Reality Show judge, Radio Jockey, Sufi and Tanoura Dancer and a Ted X speaker, who holds a doctorate in World Mythology Folklore from Pacifica Graduate Institute United States and also an Honorary Doctorate in Performing arts from The National American University.

He has been honoured with 3 National Excellence Awards and 1 National Achievement Award by the Government of India, he is also the recipient of the Rabindranath Tagore Literary Prize for Social Achievement.

and the prestigious Bharat Gaurav Samaan given by the Ministry of Culture at The House of Lords, London, UK.

He is also a recipient of the Prestigious Shakti Samman given to him in form of a Sword by the Ministry of Culture, Government of India.

The renowned 'Dance Today' Magazine, USA, rates Sandip as one of the '100 most influential dancers in the world'.

He has also been crowned as the 'King of Art4Peace' by the Art4Peace Organisation, Beverly Hills, USA.

He founded "India Dance Week", which combines Indian and international dance.

He has also become a philanthropist with this Worldwide initiative "Dance for a Cause" where he uses dance, drama and music as a medium to raise awareness of various social issues in the society.

At the British House of Commons, World Book of Records / Indo-British Cultural forum honored Soparrkar with the title of "Ballroom Dance Jewel".

He is the only dancer choreographer of India who has a postage stamp issued by the Bhutan Government with his picture and with the logo of his worldwide initiative 'Dance for a Cause'.

and the first dancer choreographer to receive the Rabindranath Tagore Social Achievement Prize for is much appreciated 'Dance for a Cause' initiative.

Apart from that he is the only Indian dancer and choreographer who has the honour of having two miniature dancing replica dolls of his by India Fine Arts Council (IFAC) and My Cute Mini for his extraordinary work in the field of dance and social work.

He is the Chairperson of India Fine Art Council (IFAC) and extensively promotes artists from all fields.

He has been bestowed with the title of ‘The World Peace Ambassador’ by The World Peacekeepers Movement.

He is also the first Indian to be certified by the Ballroom Dance Training School, Bonn, Germany

The government of the United States along with Lions Club International honoured Sandip with the 'Visionary Award' for developing a Ballroom dance program for the blind.

He is the first Indian Dance choreographer who was invited to the United Nations Headquarters in New York city to conduct a dance session for the United Nations Staff through the United Nations Staff Recreation Council (UNSRC) and Society for Promotion of Indian Culture and Experience (SPICE).

He has also been honoured twice by Mr. Thomas Lankey, honourable Mayor of Edison, New Jersey, United States of America with a Proclamation citation regarding his initiative 'Dance for a Cause', Highest State honour was given to Sandip by The State of New Jersey, USA in form of an 'Assembly Resolution' by New Jersey General Assembly, USA.

In the history of any Bollywood film magazine Soparrkar is the first dancer Choreographer to grace a cover of a Bollywood Magazine – Films Today.

Worldwide popularity of Soparrkar grew manifolds when international luxury watch brand Rolex appointed him as their 'Indian Youth Icon' and gifted him with their timeless masterpiece.

he is also the brand ambassador for Solitario Diamonds

Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Charles have written personal letters of appreciation to Sandip Soparrkar for promoting ballroom and Latin dance culture in India.

He was the first Indian to be invited to judge the Asian Latin & Ballroom Dance Championship held at Colombo where 32 countries took part with 78 competitive dances.

He is the first Indian who was invited to be on the jury of Sharm Shaikh International theatre festival for the youth, Egypt, along with other top theatre personalities from all over the world Soparrkar is a noted contributor to The Asian Age and Afternoon Voice newspapers.

His Radio Show in India on Radio Nasha, Radio One and Fever FM titled 'Aao Twist Karein with RJ Sandip Soparrkar' received the World Book of Records (WBR) London, UK certification as the world's first radio dance show.

Apart from that he is also Nominated as the 'Goodwill Ambassador' for World Book of Records USA.

Soparrkar is also one of the Board of Directors of the prestigious International Business School Washington (IBSW) which has its branches in The United States of America, France and India.

He is the founder member of Mumba India International Film Festival.

Soparrkar extensively popularizes sufi Whirling as a from of moving meditation and self discovery, often holding workshops and talks in regards to the same

Sandip was born in Bhopal, second of the two children to Col Ajay Kumar and Rani Soparkar.

He is half Gujarati and half South Indian.

He comes from a very illustrious family background, his great-grandfather Dr MB Soparkar was the personal doctor to Mahatma Gandhi, Vallabhbhai Patel and Morarji Desai.

Renowned actress Vyjayanthimala is his maternal aunt and the legendary dancer Sonal Mansingh fondly addresses him, as her 'Dancing Son'.

He started his career as a hotel management graduate.

He completed his specialization in world cuisine and started working as a cook.

At the same time, he started learning Latin and ballroom dances.

When he choreographed for Zubeidaa in 2001, he decided to take up dancing as his career option.

In 2007, he was unmarried and yet adopted a child named Arjun.

making him the first single man in India to adopt.

In 2021 he went on to adopt a differently-abled (hearing and speech impaired) boy Kabir