Growing up in Des Moines, Iowa, my Khmer /Kuh-my/ grandparents were very involved with the Des Moines Cambodian Temple. When I was three years old, they enrolled me to be a part of the Cambodian Dance Team. I learned many different dances, ranging from classical to folk, but a consistent thing for me was that each dance represented a story. 

Starting from ancient South Asian royal courts, Cambodian classical dancing is heavily influenced by mythology and historical battles, and carries drama, dialogue, and characterization through physical dance. Most dances originating before 1400 had ritualistic aspects that were believed to influence the land’s fertility and monsoon season. Dancers, mostly women at the time, wore brightly colored clothing and big, intricate headdresses to represent Apsaras (celestial beings from Hindu and Buddhist cultures). They moved slowly and gracefully to a percussion group that consisted of bamboo xylophones, drums, and singing. Many of the dances that were performed at the start of the Khmer Empire in the 8th century were preserved within the walls of temples, such as Angkor Wat, by carving their stories, and leaving their legacies so those in the next millennia could see. When the French colonized Cambodia, the idea of classical dancing remained strictly for the monarchy and politicians to enjoy as a pleasure, removing the ritualistic aspect. During King Norodom’s reign (1899), there were over 500 dancers who worked in the palace. 

In April 1975, the Khmer Rouge came into power. The country turned upside down; families were escaping persecution, religious practices were banned, and marketplaces were destroyed. About a quarter of the country’s population (roughly two million people) died due to starvation, overwork, torture, and execution. This was an attempt to erase the Khmer civilization history through genocide. Anyone who was portrayed as educated, artistic, or had cultural education ties, and those who just wore glasses to see, were executed. An estimated 85% of the Royal Ballet of Cambodia dancers were targeted, and died from malnutrition or execution. Most of the surviving dancers had made their way to the Cambodia-Thailand border and lived in refugee camps. Cambodians in these camps gathered together, and dancers taught and performed with the community to keep the culture alive. Cambodian classical dance is known to be the “soul” of the Khmer people. It’s a connection to our past, present, and future.

Princess Buppha Devi of Cambodia had spent time in the 1980s teaching dance and encouraging traditional folk music in refugee camps. Prince Sisowath, Princess Buppha’s youngest son, remembers his mother as someone who did not want Cambodian classical dance to be strictly for the monarch, but believed that it belonged to the people, to everyone. The Norodom Buppha Devi Association had opened a free school to learn traditional and classical dances in the Siem Reap Province in Phnom Phen.