In ‘Khmeropedies,’ an Exercise of Cambodian Dance Style

Choreographer Emmanuelle Phuong, dancers Chey Cankethea and Phon Sopheap, at the rehearsals of Khmeropédies II. (Photo: Courtesy of Amrita Performing Arts)

Nuch Sarita, VOA Khmer
Washington, DC Wednesday, 09 June 2010

"The main purpose of Khmeropedies is to share my experience as a dancer in the West, a very different technique with Cambodian classical dancers, and see if they can live together."

Amrita Performing Arts is scheduled to perform at the Howard Gilman Performance Space Baryshnikov Arts Center in New York City later this month, as it bring a new contemporary dance method to the US.

Amrita performers will first bring Khmeropedies One and Two to the Festival of Arts and Ideas in New Haven Connecticut from June 16 to June 19, followed by four performances at the Baryshnikov Arts Center in New York from June 24 to June 26.

The performers in Khmeropedies are trained in Khmer classical dance and represent the next generation of Cambodian creativity. Contemporary Khmer dance is a brand new discipline that had to look abroad for its initial performance. Khmeropedies I was performed in New York in April 2007 at the Baryshnikov Art Center.

Emmanuele Phuon, the main choreographer, is a French-Cambodian who lives in Brussels. She started training with the Royal Ballet of Cambodia at age 5. In 1975 she moved to Bangkok with her mother and then to Avignon, France. She studied and graduated from the Conservatoire National de Dance in 1986. In 1987, Phuon went to New York and has performed with the Elisa Monte Dance Company and the Baryshnikov White Oak Dance Project.

“The main purpose of Khmeropedies is to share my experience as a dancer in the West, a very different technique with Cambodian classical dancers, and see if they can live together,” she told VOA Khmer.

“Khmeropedies is a play between the words Khmer and Gymnopedies, a reference to a French composer and pianist in 1887, and could mean an exercise in Khmer style,” she said.

Phuon said the basic idea for the work was to take Khmer classical dance and apply it in different ways and to different themes and to push it as far as possible from its original form while keeping it recognizable.

Chey Chankethya, one of Cambodia’s best classical dancers, said Cambodia artists need to take part in festivals and other environments to develop their art.

“To me the Khmeropedies, a contemporary piece of work, is not just only about showing movement or beauty of the dance, but it reveals a new Cambodian thought,” she said. “The dance piece is able to tell the audience exactly how the traditional Cambodian dance transforms over time and how one culture acts together with others.”

Part Two of Khmeropedies is about the dialogue between an older star dancer and teacher, Sam Sathya, who is rooted in traditions, and her three young students, who are curious and want to experiment with other techniques.

The four performers in Khmeropedies are Sam Sathya, Chumvan Sodhachivy, Chey Chankethya and Phon Sopheab.

Chumvan Sodhachivy, a solo star in Khmeropedies I, began training in Cambodian classical dance in 1994. She was trained specifically in Neay Rong, the male role, folk dance and Sbek Thom, large shadow puppetry. She participated in many dance festivals and has participated in numerous workshops with international artists from India, Indonesia, the US and the World Dance Alliance.

“I think it is a great opportunity to bring the new face of Cambodian dance to US audiences who mostly have only experienced Cambodian classical dance,” she said. “It is important to share with the rest of the world the cultural transformation taking place in Cambodia.”

CAMBODIA Youth Dance Troupe With Disabled Members Tours Spain

November 14, 2008

BATTAMBANG, Cambodia (UCAN) -- A Church-organized traditional Khmer dance troupe that includes physically disabled children and teenagers recently went on a six-week tour of Spain.

Monsignor Enrique Figaredo, apostolic prefect of Battambang, organized the tour for the Dance Group of Tahen, based in Tahen, outside Battambang town, about 250 kilometers northwest of Phnom Penh.

During the Oct. 26-Nov. 5 tour, about 70 children and teenagers, of whom 15 are disabled, performed more than 20 times in more than 10 major cities. They also visited five schools for exchange activities with local Spanish students.

According to Alvaro Figaredo, who helped organize the tour, the Spanish students enthusiastically welcomed the Cambodian performers "as if they were the Rolling Stones" rock band.

The layman, a cousin of Monsignor Figaredo, a Spanish Jesuit missioner, told UCA News the Cambodian dancers covered more than 10,000 kilometers traveling around Spain. Aside from performing and making friends, he said they also saw an amateur bullfight and attended Mass at the Holy Cave of Covadonga, a Marian shrine near Spain's northern coast.

Recalling the tour, which sometimes involved getting up early and eating at odd times in odd places, Alvaro Figaredo said, "We have learned a lesson on sacrifice, being positive, happy and flexible, and especially on companionship." He added, "When one asks the Cambodian dancers what they like most about Spain, they inevitably answer: 'The people, the Spanish.'"

Some of the young performers spoke to UCA News, both in Spain and when they came back to Cambodia, on their experience.

Sam Botumn, who contracted polio when she was 9 months old, had not previously gone abroad. "I'm so happy to perform the 'blessing dance.' I thought I could not do what other people can do. But now I can do anything that physically abled people can do, even though I am always in a wheelchair."

Another girl, Pen, was 6 years old when polio struck her. "Being a disabled girl, I'm so proud to perform our Khmer classical dance, which is very hard to study," she said. Pen was thrilled to hear that some audience members planned to visit Cambodia. "I can help my country a little by letting the world know more about us. Before, the world knew Cambodia because of our war," she noted.

Cham Mech, 49, who was in charge of the troupe, commented: "We did not come only to perform our traditional and classical dances. We came as witnesses to our Catholic faith by the way we pray, celebrate Mass and also the way we sit and greet."

Alfonso Gonzalez Garcia, a volunteer who helped out during the tour, told UCA News he was impressed with how the troupe combines able-bodied and disabled youngsters in its dances. He also found the young Cambodians to be very respectful of elders and helpful to each other. In Spain, he remarked, it is difficult to find a child who smiles at a stranger.

After the tour, five young Spanish volunteers were set to go to Battambang to work with the Dance Group of Tahen.

One of them, Adela, told UCA News she was at first unsure of going to Cambodia but after being with the dance troupe for six weeks, "I truly want to go with the group and help out in Cambodia, especially in Arrupe and Tahen."

Monsignor Figaredo runs Arrupe Center, a care center in Battambang for disabled children.

During its tour of Spain, the troupe collected enough funds to finance two rural projects to support underpriviledged children in Battambang prefecture.

Empowering disabled children and promoting Khmer culture are just two of the many ministries that the local Church has undertaken since it revived in the early 1990s after two decades of civil war and religious persecution. Almost all Khmer, the predominant ethnic group in Cambodia, are Buddhists.