Apsara Dance

Apsara dancers move gracefully gesturing Kbach (meaning style) with their body and hands. After few decades of political turbulence, the Khmer is now continuing their ancestral traditions. Khmer classical dance is similar to a silent opera; instead of having Sopranos at the center stage, they have dancers representing the Apsaras, or woodland spirits which are the core figures in many Khmer folklores, miming the expressions of the spirits and posing hand and body gestures to represents various things that can be found in the nature like seeds, fruit, leaves, flowers, and many more.

Back in the golden days of the Great Angkor Kingdom, Apsara Dances are highly revered and performed only for the king and his court. Back then, the dances were the king’s concubines, princesses, and royal courtiers.

Those who have been travelling extensively throughout Southeast Asia, and had the occasion to visit the island of Java might find similarities between Apsara Dance and the Javanese dance Serimpi, in fact both dances are living memories of powerful Mahayana Buddhist kingdoms.

The Apsara Dance didn’t bare a strong Khmer influence before the 13^th century, however at the height of its popularity in the 15^th century, the dance tradition has to experienced a major setback when the neighbor kingdom of Siam (ancient Thailand), raided the Angkor Kingdom and kidnapped a troupe of Apsara dancers.

Under Khmer Rouge regime many people considered as “the enemy of the people”, including Buddhist monks, western educated Cambodians, people in contact with the west (including with the neighboring Vietnam), ethnic minorities, and artists that linked to aristocratic institutions were annihilated. Nearly all of the Cambodian classical dancers lost their lives. Those who survived started to revive the ancient tradition after the fall of Pol Pot.

The Cambodian Royals were also played a huge role in preserving the traditional dance heritage. In the 1940s the Queen Mother Sisowath Kosamak Naryrath re-create the classical Apasara Dance and train her granddaughter Princess Norodom Bopha Devi (elder sister of the current king) to become the prima ballerina of the Classical Khmer Dance. The Apsara Dance is often compared to the western ballet since the dancers are subjected to a strict dancing regime for many years prior being a career dancer.

In 2003, UNESCO named the Apsara dance a “Masterpiece of Oral and Intangible Culture”.

In villages around Siem Reap (as well as other villages in Cambodia), the Apsara Dance is performed spontaneously, just follow the sound of the Pinpeat, traditional Cambodian musical ensemble, and sit with the natives. Since most of the Apsara Dance has no dialogue and communication between characters are made through gestures, language barrier will not be a problem.