The Dancer and Cambodian History, cont.

3/7

Pen Sokhuon would practice daily in the dance pavilion of the Royal Palace. Type-cast early on as a "male" character (longer face, shorter torso than dancers who play the "female" roles) [note 5], she underwent years of rigorous training in basic movements and gestures before she was allowed to perform full dances. When she reached a notable level of technical accomplishment, she was invited to dance the coveted role of Preah Leak (Prince Laksmana), the brother of Preah Ream (Prince Rama), in the Reamker, the Khmer version of the Ramayana epic of Indian origin, the Reamker being central to the Khmer classical dance repertoire.

Pen Sokhuon (left) performing as Preah Leak, the brother of Preah Ream (Prince Rama) in the Reamker, the Khmer version of the Ramayana epic of Indian origin in the Chan Chhaya Pavilion of Cambodia’s Royal Palace. Uncredited publicity photo, c. 1970.

After Prince Sihanouk was ousted by a United States-backed coup d'etat in 1970, Sokhuon and the other dancers continued practicing in the palace, touring abroad, and dancing for state guests as civil servants under Prime Minister Lon Nol (who served 1970-75). Some also spent time teaching at the dance department of the University of Fine Arts, founded as the Royal University of Fine Arts in the mid-1960s. With the royalty in exile, however, they were no longer called upon to be the monarch's mediators with the gods. Yet they were still civil servants, earning salaries that helped them support families and plan for the future. Sokhuon herself married and had children. An intensifying civil war, though, forestalled the envisioned future, disrupting lives and livelihoods throughout the early 1970s, and culminating in the victory of the communist Khmer Rouge in April of 1975.

Democratic Kampuchea, the official name of the country under Khmer Rouge control, unleashed unfathomable suffering upon the populace as the upheaval and destruction started during the civil war continued, but on an unprecedented scale. Policies of mass relocation and family separation tore people from their communities as the regime's leaders sought to force loyalty to themselves alone. Religious worship, markets, schools, and free association were banned. Constant surveillance was the norm for the masses. Forced hard labor, lack of access to modern medicine and adequate food, and brutal punishment led to the death of close to two million people, about a quarter of the population. The victims died from overwork, starvation, disease, torture, and execution, in just less than four years of Khmer Rouge rule.

Recognizing the signifying power of dance and music, Khmer Rouge leaders created and organized public displays of revolutionary songs and dances through which they attempted to define reality and indoctrinate their subjects accordingly. Meanwhile, they forbade the practice of dance as Cambodians had known it, in all its variety, and allowed no performance of pre-revolutionary popular, folk, or ritual songs, though they often used familiar melodies to accompany new lyrics.

Pen Sokhuon, exiled to the countryside along with most other city dwellers, survived the Khmer Rouge years in a mobile work brigade, doing farm labor. She feared the Khmer Rouge would kill her if they knew of her previous connections to the palace. Sokhuon recalls being marched and forced to watch a performance of revolutionary dance. "They wore only black and danced and sang glorifying manual labor. It was terrible. But I must admit, a part of me felt excited. I could sit back and recall the beautiful memories of my past, when I was practicing or performing, guided by my teachers. And I could imagine what it would be like to be dancing again."