The Royal Ballet of Cambodia troupe, or classical Khmer dance, directed by Princess Norodom Buppha Devi, will perform this weekend of January 18-19. The performance will take place in the evening at the Chaktomuk Theatre in Phnom Penh from 6pm to 8pm.

Tickets are still available through Royal Ballet partners, online at Last2ticket or at the French Institute of Cambodia until Friday, 1pm to 7pm, and Saturday all day except between 2pm and 3pm. The troupe will present its new show titled Neang Watthana Devi, choreographed by the former prima ballerina and current director of the Royal Ballet, Princess Norodom Buppha Devi.

A New Vision

The first prima ballerina in the history of the Royal Ballet has this time drawn inspiration from a French artist, Auguste Rodin, who witnessed the spectacle in 1906, and his work Psyché. A narrative drawn from Greek mythology. In Neang Watthana Devi lives a young woman, in the role of Psyché, the main character, "beautiful and innocent." Her radiance provokes love, conflict and fear between two deities of Hindu denomination, the god Samiddha and the goddess Raki, in respective comparison to Eros (Cupid) and Aphrodite. During the Royal Ballet's press conference, held at the Raffles in Phnom Penh last December, Princess Norodom Buppha Devi indicated that the most experienced artists of the troupe would participate in this performance.

Reclaiming Identity

At this press briefing, the Princess expressed her desire, through the lens of the Royal Ballet, to "restore to Cambodians the sense of being 'Khmer,' as many of them have already been influenced by foreign culture." This troupe has historically been shaped by inspirations from beyond its borders. According to Anne-Décoret Ahiha, researcher at the Heritage, Audiovisual and Publishing department of the National Dance Centre (CND), King Ang Duong, father of Norodom I, during his reign (1841-1860), opened the doors of Khmer art to influences from neighboring lands. He then championed the gestures and attitudes of Vietnamese opera, and integrated Thai culture into the scenic entertainments of the royal family. His son enabled the Royal Ballet, which is over a thousand years old, to evolve by incorporating the works of Philippine musicians, and artists from Malaysia, Laos, Burma, China, and Vietnam. Yet this has not always been the case historically. Consider more recent times. Princess Kossamak Sisowath, mother of King Norodom Sihanouk, made efforts, particularly in the 1960s, to erase external influences and recreated "Robam Tep Apsara," the famous Apsara dance, emphasizing Khmer heritage and values brought to the stage. In this new show, the director of the Ballet Norodom Buppha Devi will once again draw from world excellence, here within French art and Greek mythology. But it is not so much the international influence on the essence of the spectacle that is problematic, as its inner resonance—the interest of the Khmer people in their own artistic culture. Proeung Chheang, choreographer of the Royal Ballet, even spoke of a "duty" when discussing, at the Raffles press conference, the support that Cambodians and particularly the younger generation could bring to any form of national art, and the Ballet in particular. Saturday afternoon, a performance reserved for Khmer university students from Phnom Penh is being organized, no doubt with this aim in mind.