The Dancer and Cambodian History, cont.

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Born into Cambodia when it was a kingdom, Sokhuon studied dance in the royal palace, under the watchful eyes of her teachers, and Queen Kossamak Nearyrath, the mother of then-reigning Norodom Sihanouk. [note 3] Though the Queen was not a dancer, she took it upon herself to oversee not only many classical dance rehearsals, but also the development of new choreography within the traditional canon.

Chan Chhaya Pavilion at the Royal Palace in Phnom Penh, Cambodia, where dancers, including Pen Sokhuon entertained members of the royal family and their court; photographed in 2006 by Toni Shapiro-Phim, © Toni-Shapiro-Phim, 2006.

The official history of Cambodian court (or classical) dance is linked with that of temples and monarchs. [note 4] Inscriptions from as early as the seventh century reveal that dancers were important in temple life. From the ninth through the fourteenth century, the Khmer (or Angkorian) Empire, based in the Angkor region of northwestern Cambodia, spread over much of mainland Southeast Asia. Angkorian kings conducted elaborate rituals to represent their concentration of power, and hence, ultimate control over the productivity and security of the realm. Their dancers were part of their regalia, used in symbolic display of their hegemony.

For centuries, it was through the medium of the dancers that royal communication with the divinities was believed to be effected to guarantee the fertility of the land and the well being of the people in the king's domain. At least once a year the dancers would perform an elaborate ritual prayer, a ceremony of supplication that presented sacred dance and music in exchange for nourishment and protection of Cambodia and her people.

“Apsaras” are celestial dancers. In the 19th century, aspects of classical dance costuming and movements were codified, using as models the carved images of apsaras that decorate some of Cambodia’s ancient temples, including the 12th century Angkor Wat, seen here. Photo by Toni Shapiro-Phim, 1991.

The gestures, movements, and costuming of the court dance were codified in the mid-nineteenth century, based on interpretations of the sculptures of celestial dancers that adorn the walls of the twelfth-century temple complex of Angkor. The images of Angkor and it attendant celestial dancers—carved in stone—were manipulated especially successfully both within Cambodia and abroad by Prince Sihanouk and the Queen Mother in the middle of the twentieth century as part of their nation-building efforts. Earthly dancers were still performing many ritual functions in concert with the ruler, yet there was a growing emphasis placed on secular concerts held on a proscenium stage. Performances included excerpts of lengthy mythico-historical dance-dramas and short pieces with no story line that were, nonetheless, evocative of the divine. The royal dancers developed into the living symbols of the country itself as, representing the nation-state of Cambodia, they accompanied royalty on state visits overseas.