Mixing styles

Belle, during a solo in the show, gives the piece a certain gravitas

The final performance of Movin' at Sovanna Phum took place tonight and it was really great to see a packed house and six young members of the Cambodian dance scene giving their all in a 55 minute show, mixing classical, contemporary and just plain fun. I won't pretend to understand what every gesture meant, much as I don't with classical dance - I never used to watch dance before I came to Cambodia - but the six performers had the audience in tears and laughter and that's not easy to accomplish. The show began with some shadow-puppet inspired movements and then ranged between lots of classical hand gestures and moves to a free and easy style that can only be described as 'letting yourself go.' Belle was her usual accomplished self, carrying off each of her dances with the excellence of the seasoned professional that she is. This was well within her ability range and her involvement lent the production a great degree of gravitas. Besides Belle, the other highlight for me was the manic expressions and energetic execution by Yon Chantha, sister of the show's choreographer Yon Davy. She's certainly one to look out for in future shows.

Yon Chantha, all bulging eyes, big grin and energy levels that are impressive

The 6 performers take a bow at the end of Sunday's show

The beginning of the show in a shadow-puppet fashion

A day of firsts

Now meets Ambassador Sichan Siv and his wife Martha for the first time at Monument Books

Saturday was a busy day and Sunday should be the same. Now has come to town for one of her rare visits and after spending time with her cousin in the morning, whilst I was at work, she joined me in hooking up with Ambassador Sichan Siv and his wife Martha at Monument Books for a book-signing of Sichan's Golden Bones memoir. Good to see William Bagley as always, the GM at Monument, who has further increased his excellent selection of books on Cambodia by stocking a few new releases, which I had to buy of course, including Kilong Ung's Golden Leaf and Sambath Meas' The Immortal Seeds. I also donated a copy of Golden Bones to the chief librarian at the National Library. After a quick bite to eat at the Red Orchid restaurant, Now and I then headed for the new premises of Sovanna Phum which wasn't too easy to find. However, the tuk-tuk driver got us there eventually, just in time for the start of their Hanuman and Giant Drum performance. And what a performance it was. If you like co-ordinated drumming and monkey antics, you'll love this. I did. The plan for Sunday is to take Now to see the Royal Palace for the first time and then in the afternoon, it's the start of the BIDC Cup at Olympic Stadium with two games scheduled to take place, including the Cambodian Under-23s and this will be her introduction to live football. The 'first's' keep on coming.

Another team photo, this time including Willam Bagley, the GM at Monument, alongwith Now, Sichan, Martha and myself

Some of the big-hitters at Monument: LtoR: Prince Sisowath Sirirath, Japanese Ambassador Shinohara, Sichan and Martha

Mann Kosal, the man responsible for Sovanna Phum, sings a traditional Khmer song

The Giants take the stage, the monkeys came later

The Giants supported by Sovanna Phum's fantastic drummers

Look at them

The highlight of my weekend by a country mile, with Belle at Sovanna Phum

A busy day again today with work as usual this morning, followed by a few hours at the Olympic Stadium watching Cambodia Premier League football and then this evening, a front row seat at the premiere of Look At Us Now, a well-attended contemporary dance performance at Sovanna Phum, looking at the struggles faced by dancers in today's Cambodia. The performers were Yon Davy, Khieu Sovannarith, Phumtheara Chenda, Sang Porsda, Va Chamnan, Yim Savann, Phon Sopheap, Kay Sokchan and well-known classical dancer Vuth Chanmoly, who also appeared in Where Elephants Weep recently. The play allowed the artists to express themselves in a variety of vigorous and imaginative ways on stage, though the dialogue was in Khmer so it was difficult for the majority of the Western audience to understand. Contemporary dance in Cambodia is certainly progressing at a rapid pace with this and other recent performances, usually including the star of the scene at the moment, Belle. She wasn't one of the performers in this show as she's been working as artist-in-residence with the French Cultural Center for the last five months, but she was there to lend her support to the dancers and working behind the scenes.

On stage action from Look At Us Now

Vuth Chanmoly provided the closing sequence to Look At Us Now

Looking as proud as punch, and rightly so

Some of the performers take their bow at the end of the dance

Roussey Dek

Pisey, the female acrobat, takes centre stage at Sovanna Phum

In a play that had many dark overtones and more than once had a young child crying in the audience, the artists of Sovanna Phum put on a fine show of mixed art-forms tonight in their rendition of Roussey Dek. The combination of shadow puppet theatre, classical dance, monkeys and circus-style performers, with a traditional Khmer orchestra in the background, worked well for me. It was well choreographed and told a series of small stories that showed good and evil, corruption, imprisonment and injustice mingled with celebration and smiles. I particularly liked Pisey, the 21 year old female acrobat, who was thrown around the stage by her male counterparts and performed her balancing feats with poise and consummate skill. She's been with the troupe for three years and made a telling contribution to this particular show. I haven't been to a Sovanna Phum show for a while and it was good to see they've maintained their high quality performances as well as featuring a story like Roussey Dek that is a diversion from the norm. Full marks to Sovanna Phum. In addition, the handing out of notes to help the audience understand the show's contents is a very good idea, though the hard wooden benches could do with extra padding.

The performance kicked off with shadow puppets fighting

A mix of dance, puppets and circus went down extremely well

Pisey and her acrobat team alongwith the two classical dancers

The silhouettes created by the candles was a mite scary for young children

Pisey demonstrating one of her many balancing acts

Members of the cast take their bows at the end of the show

The star of the show, Pisey with her latest admirer

Looking forward

In just over an hour I'll be at Meta House listening to Nic Dunlop, the journalist who tracked down the S-21 commandant Comrade Duch to a small town in Cambodia's northwestern boondocks, and who is now the man at the center of the country's first Khmer Rouge Tribunal, which has been continuing this week. Dunlop exposed the full story of Duch in his excellent book The Lost Executioner and tonight's short film and Q&A will give Phnom Penhites the opportunity to find out more from the man himself. Tomorrow night, Francois Ponchaud is continuing his lectures in English at the Catholic Communications office on St 242 on the history of Cambodia, with his focus this week on the Lon Nol Regime and the years 1970-75 (start 6.30pm). The third event of interest for me this week will be a performance by the Sovanna Phum team on Friday and Saturday of Roussey Dek, a mixed creation of Shadow puppetry, dance, circus and live traditional Khmer orchestra, that first premiered in London of all places in 2003. It's pure Khmer and sounds like a winner to me. Performances begin at 7.30pm at the Sovanna Phum Theatre on St 360.