Cambodia News, (Phnom Penh): Sadly, it was reported on the morning of September 13 In 2022, that the well-known classical dancer and choreographer, Sar (or Sor) Saroeun, has died at the age of 88, due to a disease.
This is a great loss to Khmer traditional culture.


According to the official Facebook page of the Arts and Society, the page on the traditional Khmer dance video posted about the death of Sar Saroeun, informing the public that "Sar Saroeun, a former classical choreographer, in the field of theater or royal dance is dead."

RIP

September 15, 2022
Royal Ballet legend Sar Saroeun passes away at 88
Hang Punreay / Khmer Times

A photo of Sar Saroeun as a youth. Facebook

Cambodia’s legendary Royal Ballet dancer Sar Saroeun, accredited with an important role in reviving the classical dance after the fall of the Khmer Rouge, died on Tuesday at the age of 88 at her home in Phnom Penh of old age.

Her death was confirmed by the Mudhita Foundation, a charity that focuses on education for children and healthcare for communities in Cambodia.

Nob Sovan Oudam from the foundation said that while her name was not as well-known as some of her contemporaries in the traditional performing arts such as Em Theay and Sin Sin Samadeukcho, she was widely recognised by the artistic community as a talented dancer and choreographer.

“Professor Saroeun was a dancer from the same generation as Princess Buppha Devi and was also one of the first performers in the Royal Dance depicting the story of Reamker (Khmer version of Ramayana),” he said.

Being in the Royal Ballet at that time meant that Saroeun was hand-picked by Sisowath Kossamak, the grandmother of the current King Norodom Sihamoni, who is a great patron of the performing arts. However, little is known about her childhood, except that she had worked as a royal servant.

Saroeun was one of a handful of masters of the classical dance form who survived the Khmer Rouge, driven by a radical revolutionary ideology targeted artists for execution. After the fall of Democratic Kampuchea in 1979, she joined about 10 other surviving artists to revive the Royal Ballet, coaching the thin and malnourished girls the traditional performing art.
https://www.khmertimeskh.com/501150955/ ... way-at-88/