Fine Arts Troupe to Perform Rare Circus
By Kong Soth, VOA Khmer
Original re****t from Phnom Penh
02 May 2008
A group of fine arts performers will put on a rare Khmer circus in
Phnom Penh this weekend, showcasing a nearly lost art from recently
rediscovered.
=93Building the Bridge to Langka=94 will be performed May 3 and May 4, at
the Chenla Theater, from 6 pm.
The performance, a story from the Ramayana, will be told through Khmer
circus, organizers said.
Soun Bunrith, program director of Amrita, which was founded in 2001 in
the US, said he hoped the performance will remind Cambodians to be
more interested in art.
=93To make the show of Khmer art, it is our tradition, so they can watch
it and not forget it,=94 he said. =93They are used to seeing very modern
circuses.=94
Nay Narin, director of the national circus, said she was proud to have
the Ramayana story told through the art form.
=93I am more concerned, if we are talking about the circus, that all
Khmer people think it does not belong to us, and think this comes from
foreigners,=94 she said. =93Because of war, we have abandoned these for so
many years, and they think we are copying from foreign countries.=94
Performer Phun Pisy said she has performed circuses for many years,
but the =93Bridge to Langka=94 show will be difficult.
=93I will perform as a fish known as Nang Sovan Macha, a female fish,=94
she said. =93I have to prepare myself to act as a fish faithful in love
with a white monkey, so I have to make my body very soft and very
fast, too, to march with the music while performing.=94
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