Restoring Cambodian Culture

The Children of Bassac: A Performance of Traditional Cambodian Dance
7 p.m., Foisie Amphitheater, Toad Hall, Watkinson School, 180 Bloomfield Ave., Hartford, www.watkinson.org, to purchase advance tickets, To purchase tickets: michelle@cambodianlivingarts.org or (508) 748-0816.

By Alan Bisbort
The Hartford Advocate
April 13, 2011

When and if people think of Cambodia, two images are generally called forth: Angkor Wat, the 12th-century temple mountain that adorns the national flag, and the “killing fields” of the Khmer Rouge in the late 1970s. Combining these two images, the Phnom Penh-based Cambodia Living Arts (CLA) is trying to do something remarkable, something that may never have been tried before. It is using the artistic spirit of a people embodied by Angkor Wat to transcend an act of national genocide.

“The Khmer Rouge killed many artists, but it did not kill the arts,” said CLA executive director Phloeun Prim. “Because the arts are in our soul.”

If you wish to behold the true power of the arts to resurrect a nation's soul, come to Hartford's Watkinson School on Sunday, April 17, at 7 p.m., to see the dancing of the Children of Bassac, a CLA-sponsored troupe that has captivated audiences worldwide. These 10 “children” — they now range in age from 18 to 22 — live in Bassac, a Phnom Penh neighborhood that is poor in resources but rich in the traditional arts. Led by master musician Ieng Sithul, who is also a popular TV host and recording artist in Cambodia, and teacher Nop Thyda, they will perform a combination of ancient classical and folk dances in traditional costume. The joy and passion of the arts are evident on the dancers' faces, perhaps reflecting the vital mission they are performing for themselves and their country.

Prim, who was raised in Canada after his family fled the Khmer Rouge, returned with his mother to Cambodia 12 years ago, ostensibly to visit their ancestral village. While there, he was blessed by the village monk and met his godfather, who led him to the spot where he was born.

“I fell on my knees and touched the ground,” said Prim. “I realized I belong to this land, that we all have a hunger to reconnect with our culture. Genocide should not stand as the symbol of our nation.”

Watkinson School, which offers curriculum for grades 6 to 12, has forged a bond with the CLA since its founding in 1998 by master artist (and Khmer Rouge survivor) Arn Chorn-Pond, who will be accompanying the troupe on its American tour (dance workshops at Watkinson and Trinity College are also scheduled during their stay in Hartford). Pond was friends with Charles Todd, longtime schoolmaster at Watkinson, and came to speak at the school in 1999 and then several times after that. Soon after the attacks of 9/11, the students wanted to do more than offer well wishes. After raising funds and formulating plans for a trip, a group of students made their first trip to Cambodia in 2004. Chaperoned by Steve Riege, Watkinson's director of global studies, a new group of students — juniors and seniors only — has returned each year since.

“The slow development of this bond with CLA was intentional,” says Riege. “We don't want to be perceived as the noble Americans telling Cambodians what to do, especially since our policy makers bombed the country and paved the way for the Khmer Rouge. Cambodian kids are taught to listen and obey. We didn't want to push against that social fabric.”

Through incremental steps, however, Watkinson students have helped teach English, build “friendship huts,” plant fruit trees and, most extraordinarily, taken lessons from some of the great masters of Cambodian arts, like Man Men, a multi-instrumentalist who lives near Angkor Wat. “He can pick up any instrument and play it,” says Riege. “One of my students brought along a ukulele and handed it to Man Men. Within five minutes, he was playing Cambodian tunes on it. It was a lovely way to get to know each other without language.”

Riege recalls that one Watkinson student took dancing lessons while visiting Bassac and another learned how to play the cha pei — the national stringed instrument of Cambodia — from a master who is the equivalent of a Cambodian rock star.

“Each year, we go back with some sense of what will happen,” says Riege. “But the political situation is not great, and the Khmer Rouge are still everywhere, so we have learned to let events unfold on their own. The Cambodian people have also learned to live their lives with little interaction from the government.”

Without exception, every Watkinson student who has gone to Cambodia has been deeply touched.

“The most valuable part of the trip is to learn about another part of the world,” said Riege, relating a story that he says typifies the whole experience.

“Tony is a tuk tuk [a bicycle-driven rickshaw] driver who works with the CLA when we are in Cambodia,” he recalls. “He used to be a teacher but three years ago his eyesight diminished so that it was hard for him to read. He has a large family and really has next to nothing in a material sense. But he is always giving little presents to the students, always arrives early and stays late, always of good cheer. On the last day of one of our visits, one of my students asked Tony, ‘Why are you so happy?' He responded, without hesitating, ‘Why not?' To him, with all the sadness that he has seen, happiness is a choice. That little interaction changed the student forever. The CLA attracts people like that, people with big hearts.”

The first U.S. chapter of CLA is in the process of being formed in Hartford. For more information, contact its chair, R. Kelley Bonn, at rkelleybonn@comcast.net

To see video clips related to the Children at Bassac and Cambodia Living Arts, go to these links:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XTp5kCBs9BQ&feature=player_embedded

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HJKr0v7Alz8&feature=related

http://www.youtube.com/user/cambodianlivingarts#p/u/16/5XrtF_0Hmqg.