Students celebrate Cambodian culture

April 26, 2010
By Lauren Ingeno
Collegian Staff Writer (Pennsylvania, USA)

Traditional and modern Cambodian culture intertwined Saturday night during "Cambodia: Kingdom of Wonder" -- the fifth annual cultural show presented by the Khmer Students Society (KSS).

The event was performed in front of an audience of about 100 people in HUB-Alumni Hall and was sponsored by the University Park Allocation Committee (UPAC) and SPA LateNight.

KSS invited Angkor Dance Troupe, Inc., a Cambodian dance group from New England, to perform traditional Cambodian dances dating back as early as A.D. 700. Dancers of all ages entertained the audience with their elaborate costumes and both fast-paced and elegant, slower dances.

The costumes worn by the women during the traditional Aspura dance included tall gold headpieces, chunky gold bracelets, satin brown skirts and white flowers that trickled down their hair.

In between each Angkor dance, KSS performed its own more modern routines, including a hip-hop dance. Funny video skits made by the group were also projected on a big screen.

"Some of us are American-Cambodian, so we wanted to skip from the more traditional Cambodian part to modern," KSS President Molly Kruth (senior-biobehavioral health) said.

Though KSS is a group that promotes the culture of Southeast Asia to Penn State, the group is one of the most culturally diverse on campus, Kruth said.

Chanrachna Thai, a Cambodian member of KSS who performed in the traditional Cambodian Social Dance, said she loves so many students of different backgrounds are in KSS and show awareness for other cultures.

"Sometimes it's really funny that [non-Cambodian members are] not really gentle when they dance," Thai (sophomore-nursing) said with a laugh, referring to the slow, delicate movements in some dances. "But the fact that they try is really great. It makes us so happy."

Each performance brought smiles and applause from the audience, as they snapped pictures of the performers and their dazzling costumes.

Brett Flood (senior-finance) came to the event for the second year in a row to see his girlfriend perform.

"I mean, it's not something I'd wear," Flood said of the traditional Cambodian garments. "But it's cool how they got it all together. The Monkey Dance is my favorite."

The Swva Pol (Monkey Dance) was the final performance of the night. Performers energetically flipped and danced to capture the spirit of young monkeys.

Kruth said she hopes the audience takes away a new cultural experience from the show.

"There's such a small number of Cambodians on campus that I just want them to be exposed to it and to have that experience from a different culture that they've never seen before," she said.

A celebration of Cambodian culture

02/10/2008
By Michael Lafleur, mlafleur@lowellsun.com
Lowell Sun (Massachusetts, USA)

NORTH ANDOVER -- It may seem odd to some that an elite boarding school in leafy North Andover would shed light on the efforts of Lowell-based Cambodian-American artists.

But Marie Costello, director of the Robert Lehman Art Center at the Brooks School in North Andover, said the private high school's location made it a perfect fit for an exhibition like "Celebrating Cambodia."

Costello is aware of the plight of Cambodian artists, who suffered mightily under the genocidal, communist Khmer Rouge regime that ruled Cambodia from 1975 to '79.

The Khmer Rouge targeted and killed most of that Southeast Asian nation's artisans in their disastrously failed attempt to remake Cambodia into an agrarian utopia.

With Lowell nearby and home to so many Cambodian immigrants, Costello said she wanted to help keep that artistic culture alive.

"After the brutal attempt to destroy the culture by the Khmer Rouge ... it should be counteracted by gathering together these artists to celebrate both the traditional art forms and the contemporary arts of Cambodia," she said. "We are so near to this community, and it's just important to keep it on our minds."

The show began Jan. 4 and runs through Saturday. It features the work of Lowell-based painter Chantha Khem and Lowell-based sculptor Yary Livan, as well as that of Cambodian artists Duong Saree and Thhim Sothy, and Eleanor Briggs, a New Hampshire photographer.

Costello said Saree is one of only a handful of female professors at the Royal University of Fine Arts in Phnom Penh, Cambodia's capital. She has been at the forefront of preserving traditional art forms there.

Sothy is a former student of Saree's. His earlier paintings are done in the traditional Cambodian style of concrete images and scenes, Costello said, while his newer work adds abstraction.

"It's sort of a swirling mystical feel to the work, which is really exciting," she said.

Khem, 40, hails from Phnom Penh. He has been living in Lowell for the past two years and currently resides in the city's Highlands with his wife and two daughters. He has been in the United States for five years.

Trained at the Royal University of Fine Arts, he is a full-time painter. Most of his work focuses on everyday life in Cambodia, particularly that of rural peasant farmers.

In an interview last week translated by his 16-year-old daughter, Linda, a Lowell High School sophomore, Khem said Cambodia's countryside is "how an everyday life should be, and it still is right now, especially for regular people."

He said his goal is "carry the culture of Cambodia to continue on to other generations."

Meanwhile, Livan, in an interview translated by his wife and fellow artist, Nary Tith, said he prefers the challenge of working with clay.

Livan, 54, and Tith have four children ages 13, 20, 21 and 23.

"Working with clay, you need water. You need fire. You need oxygen," he said.

"It's the same as our lives. Also, because we take a lot of time and energy to work with the clay, sometimes when you're finished, the piece did not come out what we expected. It's like ... life, too. Sometimes, we try all the best but it doesn't work out."

Cambodia takes spotlight Asia comes to Tacoma

Denise Yin peeks through the curtain as Daravy Oum, Melinda Oum and Amie Yin, from left, wait for their troupe, Cambodian Classical and Folk Dance of Tacoma, to be called to the stage Saturday at the Asia Pacific Cultural Center’s annual New Year Celebration at the Tacoma Dome. (PHOTOS BY PETER HALEY/THE NEWS TRIBUNE)

February 10th, 2008
STEVE MAYNARD; steve.maynard@thenewstribune.com
The News Tribune (Tacoma, Washington, USA)

Pat Walton enjoyed a plate of Korean kimchee and fried pork Saturday and watched Indian dancing, surrounded by hundreds of other people celebrating the Asian New Year in Tacoma.

Taking in the celebration for the first time, the 48-year-old Tacoman called it “spectacular.”

“I really enjoy the culture – and the food,” he said. “That’s part of the culture.”

A multicultural array of food, dance and music was among the attractions at the 10th annual New Year Celebration, organized by the Asia Pacific Cultural Center.

At least 4,000 people attended the all-day celebration at the Tacoma Dome Exhibition Hall, said Phil Chang, executive director of the Asia Pacific Cultural Center in Tacoma.

They helped celebrate the new year, which began Thursday. This Asian New Year, based on the Chinese zodiac cycle, is the Year of the Rat.

Before sampling the Korean cuisine, Walton tried pot stickers and noodles prepared by members of the Chinese Christian Church of Tacoma.

Church member Ming Alwin of Fircrest watched the dancing with her 2-year-old daughter, Danni. Alwin said the celebration is a way for non-Asians and Asians to get to know the diversity of Asian cultures. Youths from her church demonstrated tai chi.

“We want to export our Chinese culture to the society,” Alwin said.

Asians make up 5.9 percent of Pierce County’s population, according to data from the U.S. Census and a 2006 survey cited in the celebration’s program.

The exhibition hall was lined with booths for non-Asian and Asian businesses. Up front, the backdrop for the stage was a giant image of Angkor Wat, the ancient temple in Cambodia.

Each year’s celebration highlights a different culture, and Cambodians enjoyed the spotlight this year.

At least 500 Cambodians attended from as far away as Everett, said Rong By of Olympia. The celebration included Cambodian bands and Cambodian folk and classical dances.

Cambodians want to make themselves known to the general population, said By, who helped emcee.

“The most important thing is that people over here know Cambodians exist as part of the melting pot,” he said.

That ethnic diversity was demonstrated when the Samoana Dancers from Stafford Elementary School in Tacoma took the stage.

The 45 girls, ages 5 to 11, include Cambodian, Russian, Korean, Latino, black and Samoan dancers, said teacher Ala Talo, who started the group four years ago.

They wore Samoan dresses with bright pink and blue flower prints. In four lines on stage, they swayed and stepped, performing Samoan dances and singing in Samoan before their largest crowd ever and for the first time at New Year Celebration.

Nadia Yun, a 9-year-old third-grader, said she likes Samoan dance.

“It’s nice and graceful,” she said.

Talo said the dance is “teaching them how to respect somebody else’s culture.” It also instills positive messages, “empowering the girls that they can do anything if they put their hearts into it,” she said.

“We are so nervous because this is our first year,” Talo said. “But they did good.”

Earlier, Mary Ohno presented Japanese dance and music from her Kabuki Academy for the 10th straight year.

Ohno’s seen the event expand and grow.

“The people start understanding,” she said, “and they’re more interested in other cultures.”

Steve Maynard: 253-597-8647

Northern Illinois University Anthropology Museum works on Cambodian exhibit

NIU works on Cambodian exhibit

By Dennis Hines
The Midweek (Illinois, USA)

Area residents will soon have an opportunity to take a glimpse at Cambodian culture.

Officials from the Northern Illinois University Anthropology Museum are currently working on establishing a Cambodian exhibit. NIU officials received a $115,000 grant in 2005 from the Henry Luce Foundation in New York to help develop the exhibit.

During the past few years, NIU officials have worked with representatives from the Cambodian American Heritage Museum and Killing Fields Memorial to establish new exhibits for their museum.

The anthropology museum's Cambodian exhibit is set to feature tools and equipment that are used in every-day Cambodia such as fishing traps and fishing baskets. Ann Wright-Parsons, director of the NIU Anthropology Museum, said fishing is an important part of Cambodia's culture.

“It's important in the ecology and the economic life and agriculture,” Parsons said.

The exhibit also is set to include Cambodian children's games, clothing, school books, puppetry and instruments.

“Puppetry is not done so much anymore, but it was, so we have a fair amount of puppets that we will put up,” Parsons said. “And what we plan to do is show folk stories that were a part of children's learning.”

Other items that will be featured in the exhibit include tools that Cambodians use for cooking and preparing food. Parson said one of the more unique tools that Cambodians use are coconut scrappers. She said the Cambodians use coconuts in many of their recipes.

“A lot of their dishes use fresh-graded coconuts, and then they add a little water after they grade it, and then they squeeze it, and milk comes out, and it's boiled with fish or pork or chicken, and spices are added, and it makes a wonderful stew,” Parsons said.

The exhibit also will feature various craft items such as bowls, food containers and baskets.

“What's happening as Cambodia gets more into the global economy is these craft items are changing,” Parsons said. “They are using plastic twine instead of going out and looking for it from the vines in the forests, or they are weaving. There is one basket that is stripped full of plastic, and it is woven into a basket. So they're still weaving, but they're using plastic, because it's more durable, and it lasts longer.”

Parsons said religion is an important part of the Cambodian culture. She said the exhibit will include several items that are related to religion such as robes, incense and bowls and water bottles that are used by the monks. Parsons said the monks often store their food in different types of containers.

“Southeast Asians don't like their food all mixed up, so what they do is they put the rice (in a large container), and then they will put curry and other items in a small, plastic container,” Parsons said. “Then, the monks take the food back and share it with the other community members at the temple.”

Parsons said many of the Cambodian women prepare meals for the monks.

“The Cambodian women, who are deeply religious, will get up at three in the morning and cook fresh food,” Parsons said. “You can't give a monk leftovers. You have to give him the first portions of fresh-cooked food. So they will get up and prepare something special, and these monks go around daily, and the first portion of the cooked food will be given to the monks.”

Other exhibits that have been hosted at the anthropology museum include Western Kenya pottery, African masks and Central American culture. Several of the exhibits have been established by faculty members and anthropology graduate students.

The museum also includes a prehistoric exhibit which features neanderthal bones, animal bones, rocks, modern human bones and fossils. One of the more unique items that is featured at the museum is a mastodon jaw bone, which was found on a farm in southern DeKalb County in the 1970s. Parsons said the mastodon lived about 10,500 years ago.

“Our land was swampy and part of the last ice age, and a lot of the land must of been pools. So somehow this mastodon died and was covered in muck, and the skeleton was really well preserved,” Parsons said. “Anyway, the farmer called in an NIU team, so graduate students and a couple of faculty members went out and dug up the skeleton pieces.”

The museum also includes an interactive exhibit which explains how people who lived during prehistoric times used the sun to determine when to plant their crops.

“The whole idea is to get kids thinking about the importance of the sky and how looking at the location of the sun was used to tell time in order to know when to plant, before we had clocks or radios to tell us about the weather,” Parsons said.

The NIU Anthropology Museum is located in the Stevens Building. The museum is open from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., Monday through Friday and by appointment.