Khmer Performers Emerge from the Pandemic with Renewed Purpose
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23 December 2021 17:25 WIB
As performers prepare to welcome back tourists, a new coalition of organisations has formed with plans to lobby for the prioritisation of cultural arts.
“We are in another different experience of struggle, only this time it is happening globally. But Cambodian culture and its artists are resilient,” Prim said. “I hope with a few new initiatives coming, Cambodia’s arts and cultural industry will be seen as a priority so that we can use the arts to redevelop the economy through tourism.”
Phloeun Prim, executive director of Cambodian Living Arts, in his office in Phnom Penh. Photo: Anton L. Delgado
The song ended abruptly when Ok pressed pause.
“Today, we were going through the motions. We weren’t dancers, nor were we dancing. We were just moving to music,” Ok said. “For the last two years, all we’ve done is survive. If we want to do more than that, if we want to thrive, post-pandemic then we really need to understand what we do and why we do it.”
Khmer classical dance is commonly performed as an all-female art form. The significance of men, especially gay men, practising the traditional art needs to be recognised by every dancer, he said.
“Calling ourselves a gay dance company is to mark a clear moment in time and space,” Ok said. “I don’t care what people call my work. I don’t care if they call it traditional, or contemporary or gay. The only thing that matters is that the work is beautiful and that the work is pushing my discipline, my tradition, my people, my world forward.”
Intermittent lockdowns and occasional exposure scares meant the company could rarely rehearse in person. But despite the disruptions, Ok said he was incredibly fortunate to keep the company together throughout the pandemic.
“The way most artists live is so precarious already,” Ok said. “Being an artist in that type of world already, and then to have something like this happen, meant that we were among the firsts ones to be left behind.”
Tough times play a sad role in both Cambodian culture and traditional Khmer dance, he said.
“When thinking about Khmer dance you have to remember how this art was nearly destroyed by the Khmer Rouge,” Ok said. “While struggling with this pandemic, I thought about the strength of the artists that came before me. I thought about that time period and the time immediately afterwards and what it took to rebuild this art, this country and revive the spirit of our people.”
Over the course of the pandemic, Cambodian Living Arts had to cut funding to more than 60 of its artists, despite being founded with the goal of preserving the endangered performing art forms that survived the Khmer Rouge.
“It’s really difficult to see this happen. Our organization started two decades ago and everything we have done was meant to prepare and build a sustainable cultural sector for these artists that we’ve nurtured,” Prim said. “It was heartbreaking to have to stop.”
Prim hopes now that the country is reopening to vaccinated travellers, the organisation will be able to reconnect with the dozens of traditional artists it has supported.
“We see art as an essential part of Cambodian society,” Prim said. “We believe art is at the heart of a healthy, sustained, developing society and we want to support creativity and expression in Cambodia.”
While reopening could bring some artists back into the fold, he said reprioritising sectors of the tourism industry will be key to Cambodia’s overall recovery.
“Cambodia cannot compete only with the infrastructure of tourism: hotels, restaurants, tour operators. It needs the cultural sector to attract interest,” Prim said. “If you don’t have things like galleries, performances and culinary arts to propose an interesting destination to tourists, what are you trying to sell to the world?”
