Fawthrop on Heywood

Any excuse to mention one of my favourite people, Denise Heywood, whose book, Cambodian Dance, was reviewed in the Bangkok Post by Tom Fawthrop on Monday this week.
How Cambodian culture re-emerged after the devastating Pol Pot years - by Tom Fawthrop, Bangkok Post

The awesome grace and meticulous movements of the performers have entranced audiences since ancient times, an experience now shared with plane-loads of tourists descending on Siem Reap in western Cambodia, the jumping off point for the world's largest temple complex - legendary Angkor Wat. Dating back to the days of the great Angkor empire that flourished from the 9th to 15th centuries, Cambodian dance is a celebration of the gods, mythology and the world of the royal palace. This 144-page lavishly illustrated coffee-table book authored by Denise Heywood, a lecturer on Asian art, brings the reader a fine appreciation of Cambodian dance intertwined with the turbulent history and how it has always been at the core of Khmer culture and identity. The book details and explains the origins and development of the dances, music and shadow puppetry, all in the context of their spiritual importance as a medium for communicating with the gods. But Cambodia's recent tragedy brought its great tradition of dance near oblivion. The "Killing Fields" regime of the Khmer Rouge not only killed through slave labour, starvation and slaughter nearly 2 million people, including 90 per cent of artists, dancers and writers, but it also came close to extinguishing Khmer culture and tradition. Pol Pot's brand new agrarian dystopia had no place for the arts, culture or any other kind of entertainment except xenophobic songs and Pol Pot propaganda.

Heywood first arrived in Cambodia as a freelance writer in 1994, and her interest in dance was heightened by the extraordinary tale of how a few dancers and choreographers survived the genocidal years from 1975 to 79. In January 1979 a new Heng Samrin government backed by Vietnam proclaimed the restoration of normal society after four years of the Pol Pot regime had trashed most aspects of family life and the previous society. A handful of survivors emerged from the darkest era in Cambodian history dedicated to resuscitating their cherished traditions of dance. Actor, poet and director Pich Tum Kravel and former director of the National Conservatory Chheng Phon were among the cultural stars who miraculously survived. They became the key people enlisted by the new Ministry of Information and Culture under Keo Chenda, charged with the critical mission of bringing all the surviving dancers together. The expertise was handed down through the generations from master to pupil and never documented in written form, so everything depended on human memory. The late Chea Samy became the leading teacher at the re-established School of Fine Arts in 1981 (ironically Pol Pot was her brother-in-law). Piecing together the collective memories of survivors and much of the vast repertory, the performing arts were revived.

When this reviewer saw the post-Pol Pot Cambodian National Dance Company perform in Phnom Penh in 1981, it was a highly emotional experience. Members of the audience wept. This outpouring of raw emotion encompassed both tears of sadness for those loved ones they would never see again - and tears of joy that Khmer dance was alive again and had risen from the ashes of nihilistic destruction. Nothing had greater significance for the Khmer people in this process of rebuilding than this revival of the nation's soul and psyche in which dance plays a central role.

While Heywood is to be commended for her documentation of the revival of dance in the 1980s, it is a pity she has wrongly contextualised this cultural renaissance by claiming that "Heng Samrin's Vietnamese government" organised a national arts festival in 1980. In fact President Heng Samrin and everyone else in the new government were all Cambodians and not Vietnamese. Somehow the author has been infected with the cold war propaganda emanating from Asean governments and US embassies in the region that stressed Phnom Penh was being run by a 'Vietnamese puppet-regime' and the Cambodians blindly followed Hanoi's orders. The reality was more complicated. The cultural revival depicted in this book makes it clear that Vietnamese control over security and foreign policy, despite tensions and differences with their Cambodian allies, did not block the re-emergence of Khmer culture that at the same time planted the seeds for future independence. In 2003 Unesco bestowed formal recognition proclaiming the Royal Ballet of Cambodia to be a masterpiece of oral and intangible heritage. And one year later Prince Norodom Sihamoni, a former ballet choreographer and dancer, was crowned king.

Thai classical dance borrows much from the dance traditions of Angkorian times. After Siam's invasion of Siem Reap in 1431, hundreds of Cambodian dancers were abducted and brought to dance in Ayutthaya, at that time the capital hosting the royal court of the Thai king. This timely book also mentions that Cambodian choreographer Sophiline Shapiro has, among many other projects, adapted Mozart's Magic Flute to Khmer classical dance as part of a 2006 festival to commemorate the 250th anniversary of the great composer's birth. This production with many innovations caused a stir among the purists. Shapiro passionately defends her new productions against the critics, telling the author "increasing the repertory of dance will help to preserve it and prevent it from atrophying or becoming a museum piece."

Denise's celebration

This coming Thursday (5th March) at 6pm at Monument Books on Norodom Boulevard in Phnom Penh, one of the most passionate and evocative speakers I've ever listened to, Denise Heywood, will give an illustrated talk about her latest book, Cambodian Dance - Celebration of the Gods. This 144-page coffee table book was published at the end of last year by River Books and is a lavishly illustrated celebration of this noble artform. Without reservation, I recommend you attend the talk and buy the book. Denise (pictured) is currently dipping her toes in the sea at Sihanoukville though found time to answer some of my questions to provide some background to both the book and herself.

Q. Lets start with the book itself. What prompted you to write a book on dance in Cambodia?
A. I wanted to write the book because as soon as I first saw the dance in Cambodia I loved it. I've always loved dance and ballet, by the way, throughout my life. But I was so moved by the plight of the dancers during the Pol Pot regime when 90% of them were murdered. The courage and determination of survivors to recreate their lost heritage was inspiring. Although many articles have appeared on their work, I felt a book would do them justice and honour them. The book is dedicated to the dancers who survived the Pol Pot regime. Also the history of Cambodian dance is, in essence, the history of Cambodia, since it goes right back to Angkor and is a part of the spiritual and artistic recovery of the country today.

Q. How long did it take to write and did you have a sponsor for the book?
A. It took me three years to write, but has been in the making since I first came here in 1993 and I had written and lectured on it extensively before the book. Alas I had no sponsorship for the book and financed the work entirely myself. It was a labour of love! But I had the tremendous support and advice of the publisher, Narisa Chakrabongse of River Books. Without her belief in the project it could never have happened. She and all her colleagues at River Books, in particular Paisarn at the Bangkok office, and Chris in the London office, were marvellous. Narisa personally went through all the text and pictures meticulously, helping me with corrections and ideas, suggesting changes and improvements. Thanks to her it was a much better book. I was also indebted to various people who looked at the script for me and I have thanked them in the book.

Q. What do you hope readers will gain from your book?
A. My hope is that readers will gain an understanding of the rich heritage of living arts in Cambodia, of dance's profound connection to Angkor, of which more scholarship will emerge in the future I am sure, and of the spirit of the Cambodian people and in particular the dancers in working to recreate what was so brutally destroyed in the Pol Pot regime. The fact that Cambodian dance was deemed by UNESCO to be part of the intangible heritage of the world speaks volumes for their dedication. Dance is often described as the soul of Khmer culture and studying its history and symbolism is a great insight into Cambodia.

Q. You have written books on Luang Prabang and Cambodian dance, any more in the pipeline?
A. My book on Luang Prabang was equally hard work and is now out in French too. Once again, this was all thanks to Narisa Chakrabongse and River Books. She organised all the drawings and maps which accompany each of the sections on the temples and went through all the text and photos. Like all of the books she produces, it was beautifully designed and laid out. For the moment I am thinking around several other projects in the pipeline related to my focus on the art of Southeast Asia. To answer two questions at once, my focus has been Angkor in particular, but I lecture and write on Laos, Vietnam and now on Bali and Java. The dance of Bali is of great interest to me at the moment. In Britain I lecture for NADFAS, (the National Association of Decorative and Fine Arts Societies) and also now on the SOAS (School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London) post-graduate Asian Art Course in conjunction with the British Museum and the Victoria and Albert Museum. I also lecture to many other travel, art and cultural organisations and to schools, to sixth forms, particularly on Cambodia.

Q. What sparked your interest in Southeast Asia in the first place? And especially Cambodia? What are your particular interests?
A. My interest in Cambodia, and Southeast Asia, was pure chance - perhaps destiny! I came here travelling in 1992 for six months and as soon as I arrived in Cambodia, in January 1993, fell in love with Angkor. I came for a week and stayed for three years. Angkor, dance and Luang Prabang are my specialist areas since I've written books on them, but as mentioned earlier I do lecture on other areas. The history of France in Vietnam is of particular interest to me as well.

Q. You live in London now, how often do you come back to SEAsia? Tell me more about your lectures.
A. I do come back here at least once or twice a year, bringing cultural tours to Angkor and Laos, and lecturing on cruise-ships. It's really a great honour to do these. And it enables me to escape the terrible English winters! As for lecturing, I was originally a journalist, but when I went back to England in the mid 1990s people were so fascinated by Cambodia, which was less known at that time, that they asked me to give talks which I was able to illustrate with photos since I am also a photographer. These just escalated and I started giving more and more. I never had any training, but just watched other lecturers and decided how I would present my own. I did a lot of work on the content, studying in great depth in the SOAS library. Becoming a lecturer for NADFAS was a great honour as this gave me many wonderful opportunities to lecture all over the world, as they have organisations in Australia, New Zealand, Spain, France, Germany, Holland and elsewhere. Thank you for describing my lectures as passionate and evocative - perhaps that's because they come from the heart!

• Click here to visit Denise Heywood's own website.

Captivating lady

On a personal note, I continue to feel sorry for myself over my skin infection that has now moved upwards to my face and this weekend I'm undergoing my third set of blood tests as well as x-rays and ultrasound before deciding to head for somewhere like Singapore or Bangkok early next week to try to get to the bottom of the problem. All the tests so far have proved negative or inconclusive yet my skin is still badly infected and I really don't look a pretty sight (not that I looked a million dollars before all this). It looks that bad that a photo I took the other day would put you off your food for a week so I won't post it. However, to cheer myself up, I had a lunchtime rendezvous today with one of my favourite people, Denise Heywood. She's in town for a few days and will promote her new book, Cambodian Dance, at an illustrated talk at Monument Books next Thursday (5th March) at 6pm. Denise honoured me by appearing as a guest speaker at two of my Magic of Cambodia charity days back in England a few years ago and hand on heart, she is one of the most passionate and evocative speakers I have ever listened to. If you just have 1 thing in your diary next week, make sure it's the Denise Heywood talk, I can guarantee you will be singing her praises as I do. And once you've listened to the talk, make sure you buy the book, it's a fascinating look at both classical dance in Cambodia as well as the individuals who've made its revival possible after the horrors of the 1970s. Dance in Cambodia is part of the nation's soul and Denise pays it all the respect it deserves in her wonderfully detailed book, packed full of pictures. At lunch we had lots to catch up on though she was a bit bewildered by the traffic in the city, having lived here in the early '90s for three years when UN landcruisers were jockeying for space with a multitude of cyclo's with hardly a moto and not a tuk-tuk in sight. She was off to a charity event at Raffles this evening or else we'd still be there now chatting about all and sundry. Let me direct you to her website where you can find out more about this captivating lady.

Countdown for Denise

Early next month, Denise Heywood will return to Phnom Penh - her second home, having lived here and written for the Phnom Penh Post in the early 1990s - to present an illustrated talk at Monument Books all about her new book, Cambodian Dance: Celebration of the Gods. It will begin at 6pm on Thursday 5th March, with free snacks. Do not miss this event! In the meantime, I would've posted an article about the book and another tome dedicated to classical dance, Earth In Flower, that recently appeared in The Cambodia Daily but it's copyright as rightly pointed out by the publisher, so you can read it here.