UC Riverside

The process of re-construction of Cambodian classical dance in Cambodia and in the global Khmer diaspora is heatedly contested by both scholars and dance practitioners. Khmer diasporic choreographers’ attempts at deploying costuming and choreography make visible ongoing tensions in all attempts for diasporic Khmer artists to negotiate contemporary Cambodian cultural nationalism. Analysis of three diasporic choreographers’ costuming tactics reveal the struggle diasporic artists face with Cambodian national policy that cautions against experimental classical dance practices and costuming that are not born out of royal patronage. Who decides what bends the repertoire “too far?” When is this bending considered transgressive against the tradition and why? This thesis begins with a feminist reading of the historiography of classical dance to highlight the greater implications of costuming in Cambodian cultural nationalism. Following this, I analyze three case studies of new costuming tactics by independent classical dance choreographer Sophiline Cheam-Shapiro of Sophiline’s Arts Ensemble (formerly known as Khmer Arts Ensemble), independent classical dance choreographer Prumsodun Ok, and classical dance organizer Ravynn Karet-Coxen of The Sacred Dancers of Angkor.

Karet-Coxen seeks to revive dance as it was practiced in the age of Angkor (802-1431)—as a sacred ritual and sanctifying practice for holy places. She uses white, flowing costumes to mark the purity of her dancers that enables them to transmit blessing in Sacred Dance. This costume, though new to the repertoire, consents to the fixed national narrative which depicts female Cambodian dancers as pure conduits of the Apsara of Angkor. The struggle for negotiating Cambodian cultural nationalism manifests through the costuming design, inspired by Roman Vestal virgins and problematically draped on impoverished, virginal Cambodian dancers. Conversely, Sophiline Cheam-Shapiro and Prumsodun Ok’s experimental costuming tactics in the Cambodian classical dance diaspora arguably empower a break-away from the dance repertoire’s historical supplicancy to royal and national political projects. Karet-Coxen, Ok, and Cheam-Shapiro “bend” costuming tactics in classical dance in order to revive dance either in line with or against Cambodian cultural nationalism.