Discipline
Through Dance
Students find social network
in performing arts
by Botumroath Lebun
 |
| Botumroath
Lebun/The Cambodia Daily A teenager from the Apsara Performing Troupe performs a dance about typical life in a village |
“I liked the subtle movements when the ladies turn their heads and body in unison,” said Michan Poleak, now 18.
After seeing the dancers for the first time, Michan Poleak begged and nagged his mother until she finally relented and allowed him to enroll at Apsara.
Every evening for the past three years, he rides his bicycle to the Apsara dancing school after his high school classes. There, he trains to be a “monkey dancer,” one of the characters prevalent in traditional Khmer dance.
“Morning practices, bending legs and hands, were torture,” Michan Poleak said.
“The first week of class was the hardest. I couldn’t sleep comfortably for a whole week. My legs and body hurt,” he said. But the pain did not stop him.
Unlike Michan Poleak, many kids these days are more interested in disco dance than classical dance, said Vong Metry, vice-chairwoman of the Apsara Arts Association dance school.
But with some 170 students enrolled at the Phnom Penh-based NGO, which provides free dance training for poor children, Vong Metry said she hopes to revive a part of Cambodia’s traditional performing arts that was lost during the Khmer Rouge regime.
“It is important to teach the younger generation about Cambodian culture and society,” said Vong Metry, a tall, thin woman with a beauty mark on her chin.
“Through these rigorous disciplines that we ingrain in our students during practice, they begin to look into the mirror [and see] an image of what Cambodia was then, the value of their culture and arts,” she said.
In a city where youths sometimes fall into gangs, or use drugs, or simply hang out and play video games for lack of social activities, Vong Metry said she’s not worried about her students going astray.
All
of her students, ranging from as young as 4 years old to their teens,
head straight to dance practice after school.
“These kids have no time to waste playing video games because they
can’t afford it. All they want to do is dance,” she said,
adding that most of her students come from poor backgrounds. Many of their
parents are phone card vendors, garbage scavengers or civil servants.
Vong Metry added: “Students are aware that if they smoke, they cannot
perform well.”
 |
| Botumroath
Lebun/The Cambodia Daily Students perform a classical dance for some 50 audience members at the Apsara Arts Association theater |
In comparison, at the Royal University of Fine Arts, which trains those who wish to become professional dancers, the admission process is very competitive, according to former Apsara dancer Hun Sarath, who teaches part time at RUFA and at the Apsara Arts Association Troupe.
The teachers at RUFA are extremely strict and selected students are required to follow an eight-year training program to become professional classical dancers, she said.
Only 25 to 30 students are selected from among a large number of competitors each year, she said. Some begin training at the age of 8 and continue on to the university level. While the training is rigorous, however, job opportunities are limited for professional classical dancers in Cambodia, said Delphine Kassem, co-founder of the private performance company Sovanna Phum Performing Arts Association.
“[After] years of training...your goal is to be on stage performing for the audience,” she said. “Being on stage is the place where you shine and become better.”
Unfortunately, Kassem said, such opportunities remain few.
Some young dancers, however, said they have no interest in becoming professionals.
 |
| Botumroath
Lebun/The Cambodia Daily Backstage at the Apsara dancing school, Pich Pisey, 8, (right) and her male partner rehearse their act |
“I was crying and kicking all the way here,” Som Sambath re-called. “I was making a sourpuss face to the teachers on my second day of practice.”
One of six children in the family, Som Sam-bath said he now has his mother to thank, as he has come to enjoy the art and has made new friends through the dance school. Still, he said: “A dancer is not what I want to become.”
Som Sambath’s grandfather was a classical musician and his mother wanted him to follow in his grandfather’s footsteps.
With one hand resting on his chin and another hand scratching his head, he said, “I want to become a pilot. I want to fly around the world.”
Michan Poleak, on the other hand, has no desire to see the world. Instead, he wants the world to see him perform on stage. He said he has a long way to go and there will be many challenges ahead. But he takes dancing seriously and wants to learn as much as his instructors can teach him about classical dance and its history. “I love dancing. I love acting out my part in the story,” he said with a smile, performing one of his mischievous monkey movements. “Keeping Khmer classical dance alive is important.”
Preserving the Khmer arts will not be a problem in the years to come, assures Kassem. “A culture that is this rich can never be lost.”