Dancer-painter Chakreya So, 16, is the only female member of a group of Cambodian performers visiting FSU. (Photo Democrat)Article published Mar 24, 2006
Eight slim, shirtless young men from Cambodia moved in slow motion across a stage at Florida State University's dance department on Wednesday as if they were sleepwalkers.
Crickets chirped and a solitary stringed instrument played a mournful song over the sound system.
As the trance-dancers inched along, two older Japanese dancers - known as Eiko & Koma - moved between them like ghosts. Their faces were painted ashy white. Eiko & Koma assisted the dancers as they collapsed with the speed of glaciers, and their bodies littered the floor.
FSU dance chair Libby Patenaude was so moved that she wiped away tears when performance was over.
It doesn't take a degree in international politics to figure out that Eiko & Koma's "Cambodian Stories" has a lot to do with Cambodia's troubled political past and Pol Pot's slaughter of a generation. At the same time, the ambitious piece - which combines painting and dance - contains a hopeful message about the healing power of art.
Eiko & Koma will give a sneak preview of their "Cambodian Stories" on Sunday in the Black Box theater at the FSU dance department. The Japanese dancers and the Cambodian performers-painters, who range in age from 16 to 22, have spent the week at FSU working on the piece before it tours the country.
"The (Cambodians) are all nondancers," FSU dance historian Sally Sommer said. "They've never danced or studied movement in their lives (before meeting Eiko & Koma). This is a new experience for them."
Eiko & Koma, who live in New York City, met the Cambodians in January 2004 during a teaching trip to the nonprofit Reyum Art School in Phnom Penh. They were knocked out by the enthusiasm and agility of the students. "Cambodian Stories" took shape.
"The ghosts can be seen as spirit guides or their parents," Koma said after the preview. "Many of the students at Reyum are parentless or homeless. The school doesn't' get any government assistance."
The Cambodian painter-dancers, including one female, are getting their first exposure to America in Tallahassee. They quickly developed a love for playing Frisbee on Landis Green and attended their first college basketball game at FSU on March 17.
"We always see it on TV but never (in person)," dancer-painter Yok Chivalry, 19, said. "We will play it when we get home."
"They may not have known what was going on in the game, but they caught on fast to doing the Tomahawk Chop," special-events coordinator Joyce Straub said.
Chivalry said he and his friends are adjusting to the "cold" weather and the food in Florida.
"We cook at the house," he said.
The students brought plenty of original paintings to sell. Profits go to Reyum. Eiko & Koma's "Cambodian Stories" visit was made possible through the Maggie Allesee National National Center for Choreography at FSU.
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