August 10, 2018
‘Heavenly Flower, Earth Poem’: A Quest for Identity

On August 16, the performance of ‘Bopha Suo Chomrieng Lorkei’ (Heavenly Flower, Earth Poem) will take place at the Royal University of Fine Arts. One and a half years in the making, the performance involves nine Japanese dancers and at least six Cambodians. Colin Grafton profiles Hitomi Yamanaka, one of the Japanese dancers, who studied Khmer dance at RUFA and became one of the first foreigners to attain professional status in the art.

The performance of “Bopha Suo Chomrieng Lorkei” (Heavenly Flower, Earth Poem) which will take place at RUFA on August 16 has been one and a half years in preparation, and involves nine Japanese dancers (including Hitomi) and at least six Cambodians, with their teacher, Sam Satiya. Hitomi wanted to create a unique work from both Khmer and Japanese traditions. Thematically, it is mainly Japanese, incorporating both 1000-year-old poetry and some more contemporary works “to add colour”; they express the feeling of ‘mono no aware’, the transience of all things and the gentle sadness at their passing.

There will be a “Sompea Kru” ceremony for the dance masters and their ancestors, followed by the classical dance “Moni Mekhala” as an example of pure form, and finally Hitomi’s creative dance performance of “AHNON” (‘eternally’) based on Khmer dance and choreographed mainly by Yuvanna, to music composed by Yaan Borin. The poetry and the dance both represent a thousand years of tradition and history, and it is this feeling of the flow of time which Hitomi wants to express.
Full article: https://www.khmertimeskh.com/50521015/h ... -identity/