Letter to the editor of The Guardian: Ballet in Cambodia

• guardian.co.uk, Tuesday 24 April 2012 

Great to see the work being done by Stephen Bimson in Phnom Penh (Report, 24 April). But isn't it misleading to talk about "bringing ballet to Cambodia" and to suggest that "traditional folk dance" was all that had existed before? What about the Cambodian Royal Ballet with its 1,000-year track record? And doesn't their beautiful art form predate classical western ballet by centuries? Pol Pot did all he could to destroy this remarkable dance culture, but it survived thanks to the troupe's brave remnant. Recruiting young talent from the refugee camps, dance scouts, guided by an old costume-maker, painstakingly tried to rebuild this tradition. We know this because, as guests of Oxfam Scotland, the troupe came to Glasgow in 1990 in a moving display of resilience and wonder. Cambodia needs the arts in its efforts to heal and rebuild. It's heartening to see this happening. But the article has a faint whiff of cultural imperialism that, surely, misrepresents the intentions of the artists.
Tony Graham
New York