Khmer Apsara and Khmer folks dance

The reasons why i want to write this post is because apsara is one my favorite mythical dancer! And dancing is also what i love to do from my young aged till now, it doesn't matter which dance, ballet or streetdance but this one is very special for me and for all Khmer dancers i think. We all had a dark shadow in the past because we almost lost our Khmer culture in the war with the Khmer Rouge in 1975-1979. Lucky enough a few dancers had survived and brought back this dance again to the youth from now. Apsara is one of the most beautiful and graceful dance in the world. And the national pride of Cambodia. 

About Apsara

If you ever wanted to go to Cambodia then please visit Siem Reap. Because in Siem Reap there is the most famous Angkor Wat temple complex and the largest religious monument in the world. And you will inevitably got struck by the beautiful dancing girls depicted on the temple walls and the reliefs and also different apsara girls with different hairstyle and clothing. 

Apsara is the females spirit in water and clouds in the figures of Hindu mythology, they are beautiful dancing girls who is good in art and they are the wives of the Ghandarvas. 

The Ghandarvas are the court servants of Indra, king of the demi-gods , make the music to which their wives dance in the celestial palaces. Apsara also seduce gods or men by dancing in the big palaces. Apsara was born from the ocean of the milk ( Hindu story: Elixir of immortality was lost in the mythological Ocean of Milk and the gods went looking for it. And the gods deva's have pulled them up. )

Apsara are the divine creatures that have the ability to change their forms and as the willing to servants Indra they used their seductive charms and the beauties to seduce mortals, kings and wise men who may have threatened Indra’s power. The apsara goddesses then would appear to men with their torsos bare and their wrists and ankles adorned with gold. 

Apsara Dancers Royal Ballet

Angkor Wat was built between 1113 and 1150 by King Suryavarman II in Angkor Period. Everywhere on the walls in Angkor Thom, Angkor Wat, Bayon and Ta Prohm you will see on the relief of a dancing apsara or devas. With different cloths, hair and jewelry. In the Angkor period the royal family start to performed the apsara dance and only the royal family can perform the dance and later it was spread throughout Cambodia and Thailand. When the war broke down, by the Khmer Rouge period, many teachers or dancers were killed, they destroy everything but a small band of dancers managed to survive and is now making a comeback. They called the Apsara dancers the royal ballet. The song of the dance call Robam Tep Apsara with a group of females dancers and one leader in white. The performers are in stories so the complete show is in Siem Reap and it took about more than a hour if you want to go and see the dancers. I had never saw the whole show when i visit Cambodia only a few dances in Phnom Penh 1999. It was my first and last time that i had visit Cambodia. So one day Cambodia i will be back...!

Full Robam Tep Apsara dance video

Khmer Folks Dance

Khmer folks dance, each province in Cambodia has his own Khmer folks dance. In 70th before the war broke downed my older sister learned this dance from her teacher at school. In 1979 i was born in Battambang, so around my 4 month we fled to Thailand and stayed in the refugee camp Kao I Dang. So at that time you can imagine how my parents and brothers and sisters had been through but that's another long story. In the refugee camp the kids can choose different classes and my older sister had choose Khmer art class, she started to learned to dance again from her teacher. Who's also had fled from her hometown, kept our heritages in the refugee camp and still had hopes that war will be over. When i saw my sister and her classmate practicing in the class, i wanted to dance like them and i started to practice on my own by watching them. At that time i was to young and sick to moved around that's why my parents don't want me to took that class. In 1985 we moved with the family to Netherlands because of my sickness. Everything when fine after my operation, i was healthy and got better... 

Around aged 7 i start to dance robam ram vong and ram kbach and Bopha Lokey. Bopha Lokey is the dance of Flowers of the World, is a traditional work choreographed for beginning students . It describes the desired beauty and scent of flowers, for the young ladies dancing on stage. Ram vong and ram kbach dance is an old folk dance for all the Khmer people in Cambodia, we dance this around the table and always at every Khmer party. We learned it from our Khmer teacher, Samantha. She teaches us how to speak Khmer and writing Khmer at my primary school on every Wednesday morning. Because of her i got my opportunity to dance but this time in front of the dutch people, or at Khmer party or at multicultural party. Later around age 13 my older sister learned me how to dance Khmer folks dance, because she's already performed them at stages with a small group of Khmer friends from Belgium and Netherlands. At that time i had a lot of fun with my friends and family in our community because we start to treat each other's like a big family...

Bopha Lokey dance video

Last summer my older sister had no time to learned the kids how to dance for the Pchum Ben party so she decided to ask me if i can teach them and for me it's an honor. Because i was out for a whiled duo private matters i was kinda nervous and happy. I taught them Robam Choun Por and Khmer Loeu. Robam Choun Por is a wishing dance, the meaning of this dance is, you wish everyone a happy healthy life. By throwing flowers petals to the public and it's also one of the Royal ballet dance. 

Robam Choun Por dance video

https://rumble.com/v32fxz-robam-choun-por-dance-by-kids-koun-khmer-apsara.html

And robam Khmer Loeu is from an old khmer tribe who is living in the highlands in the North of Cambodia. Khmer Loeu means Khmer from the North. They wearing clothing like sarong khmer. This dance also start to take over by the Cambodian people and now you see them dancing everywhere in different occasions at the Khmer party's. Khmer Loeu songs still playing at khmer party's everywhere.  

If you have any questions just asking and please follow me or vote if you like this post. Thank you very much...

Greetings Sar

Me performed robam Choun por in white and the kids that i taugth them and they performed it at Pchum Ben party in Netherland September 2016.