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diversions
Cambodian spirit
opens Carpenter Center season
By Alisha Gomez
On-line Forty-Niner
The Carpenter Performing
Arts Center will host "Dance, the Spirit of Cambodia,"
this Wednesday and Thursday at 7 p.m. The tour marks the first
time in a decade that Cambodian music and dance have toured
in the United States.
Special dancers
and musicians in colorful costumes will perform traditional
court and folk dances of Cambodia. An extended excerpt from
the Reamker dance-drama will be included in the performance
as well as these Cambodian dances: Robam Apasara, Chhayam,
Robam Tunsaong and Robam Makaw.
"In this first
formal tour to the U.S. in more than a decade, we have chosen
to present a selection of dance styles that have been revived
and sustained," said Acting Director Proeung Chhieng,
who is also vice rector and dean of choreographic arts at
the Royal University of Fine Arts. "The university's
programs and Khmer arts in general are renewed."
Those who attend
the show can also enjoy a celebratory Cambodian marketplace
preceding both performances on the Carpenter Center Terrace.
The marketplace starts at 4 p.m. and will include food vendors,
art sales and live music from local Cambodian musicians.
After the performance
in Long Beach, a few shows in the West and the Midwest, the
tour will end at the Kennedy Center in New York. The concert
is a project of the Royal University of Fine Arts, Phnom Penh,
and includes 41 members of dancers and musicians.
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