Cambodian classical dance

Cambodian classical dance
Khmer name	របាំព្រះរាជទ្រព្យ
Also known as	Royal Ballet of Cambodia; Khmer classical dance; Robam Preah Reach Trop; Robam Preah Reach Troap; Lakhon Preah Reach Trop; Lakhon Luong; Lakhon Kbach Boran Khmer; Robam Kbach Boran; Lakhaon Loung; Royal Court Dance; Cambodian court dance
Practice type	Performing art
Usual occasion	Royal ceremonies such as coronations, weddings and funerals; Khmer holidays
Subjects	Dance & Theatre; History & Remembrance; Migration & Diaspora
Creator pages	Chheng Phon, Em Theay, Norodom Buppha Devi, Sisowath Kossamak, Voan Savay, Hun Pen

Cambodian classical dance (Khmer: របាំព្រះរាជទ្រព្យ, Robam Preah Reach Trop), also known as Khmer classical dance and formally as the Royal Ballet of Cambodia, is a dance tradition renowned for its graceful hand gestures and elaborate costumes. It has been closely associated with the Khmer court for over one thousand years, and its repertory carries the legends associated with the origins of the Khmer people. (UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage, Royal ballet of Cambodia; Wikipedia, Royal Ballet of Cambodia)

UNESCO proclaimed the Royal Ballet of Cambodia in 2003 and inscribed it in 2008 on the Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity. The tradition narrowly escaped destruction under the Khmer Rouge in the 1970s, was revived after 1979, and is taught and performed today throughout Cambodia and its diaspora. (UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage, Royal ballet of Cambodia; Prumsodun Ok & NATYARASA, official site)

Names

Western names such as Cambodian court dance refer to the royal court, where attendants of the palaces performed and maintained the tradition. UNESCO and scholars use Royal Ballet of Cambodia, a term that can also refer to the National Dance Company of Cambodia, alongside Khmer classical dance. In Khmer the form is known as Robam Preah Reach Trop ("dances of royal wealth") or Lakhon Preah Reach Trop (ល្ខោនព្រះរាជទ្រព្យ), and also as Lakhon Luong (ល្ខោនហ្លួង, "the king's theatre"). During the Lon Nol period it was called Lakhon Kbach Boran Khmer (ល្ខោនក្បាច់បូរាណខ្មែរ). (Wikipedia, Royal Ballet of Cambodia)

The National Museum of Cambodia gives Robam Kbach Boran and Lakhaon Loung as other names. Classical dancers are often loosely called apsara dancers, but the apsara is only one character in the repertory; see Robam Tep Apsara. (National Museum of Cambodia, Royal Ballet history; Wikipedia, Royal Ballet of Cambodia)

Practice

The classical repertory has four character types: Neang the woman, Neayrong the man, Yeak the giant and Sva the monkey, each with distinctive colours, costumes, makeup and masks. The gestures and poses, mastered only after years of intensive training, evoke emotions from fear and rage to love and joy. A female chorus comments on the plot and highlights the emotions the dancers mime. Dancers were considered the kings' messengers to the gods and the ancestors. (UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage, Royal ballet of Cambodia)

Teachers describe a vocabulary of about 4,500 basic movements. Dancers are sewn into their largely handmade costumes for each performance, which can take two to three hours. (Alliance for California Traditional Arts, Charya Cheam Burt profile; PBS NewsHour and KQED, the 1,000-year-old dance tradition (2015))

The music is played by a pinpeat ensemble of xylophones, gongs, reeds, cymbals and barrel drums; see Pinpeat. (PBS NewsHour and KQED, the 1,000-year-old dance tradition (2015); Wikipedia, Royal Ballet of Cambodia)

The dance is passed down from master to disciple. Students address their teachers as Lok Kru (men) or Neak Kru (women), from the Sanskrit guru. (Modern Apsara Company, MAC Krus)

History

One of the earliest records of dance in Cambodia dates from the 7th century, when performances served as a funeral rite for kings, and ancient stone inscriptions describe dancers assigned to temples. The National Museum of Cambodia traces the tradition's origins to the Funan period, between the 1st and 6th centuries, when sacred dancers were considered a link between the earth and the gods. (Wikipedia, Royal Ballet of Cambodia; National Museum of Cambodia, Royal Ballet history)

The Royal Ballet first travelled abroad with the court of King Sisowath in 1906, performing for a French audience. After independence in 1953, Queen Sisowath Kossamak created a number of ballets and a new model of performance for national and international audiences, and the ballet became a symbol of Khmer culture and the Cambodian nation. In 1959 she visited the United States to present exhibition performances of Khmer national culture. (National Museum of Cambodia, Royal Ballet history; Wikipedia, Royal Ballet of Cambodia)

Under the Khmer Rouge, from 1975 to 1979, almost all master dancers and musicians were eliminated; up to 90 percent of Khmer dancers perished. Immediately after 1979, troupes re-emerged and performances of the ancient repertory resumed. Surviving masters such as Chea Samy, Soth Sam On and Chheng Phon led the revival. Chheng Phon, as minister of culture, helped reopen the school that is now the Royal University of Fine Arts, still the most important school of classical dance in the country. Training was also resurrected in the refugee camps in eastern Thailand, and many dances and dance dramas were recreated at the Royal University of Fine Arts. (UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage, Royal ballet of Cambodia; Alliance for California Traditional Arts, Charya Cheam Burt profile; Prumsodun Ok & NATYARASA, official site; PBS NewsHour and KQED, the 1,000-year-old dance tradition (2015); Charya Burt Cambodian Dance, Biography; Wikipedia, Royal Ballet of Cambodia)

UNESCO notes continuing difficulties, including a lack of funding and suitable performance spaces, competition from modern media and the risk of the dance becoming a mere tourist attraction. (UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage, Royal ballet of Cambodia)

Repertory

According to The Cambridge Guide to Asian Theatre (1997), the repertory contained about 40 dances and 60 dance dramas. Since the restoration after 1979, some of the old repertory has been recreated and new dances created. (Wikipedia, Royal Ballet of Cambodia)

Dances documented by diaspora teachers include: (Charya Burt Cambodian Dance, Classical Repertory)

Robam Apsara, portraying the apsara Mera in a garden with her maids; see Robam Tep Apsara
Robam Chun Por, a blessing dance in which flower petals are tossed to the audience
Robam Tep Monorom (Heavenly Bliss), in which male and female devadas move in and out of formation
Robam Buong Suong, a ritual prayer dance for peace, rain and fertility
Robam Monosenchetna, a love story that demonstrates the gestural vocabulary
Robam Chhouy Chhay, a solo praising a young princess
The Reamker episode of Hanuman and Sovann Maccha, in which the white monkey courts a mermaid

UNESCO recognition

The Royal Ballet of Cambodia was originally proclaimed in 2003 and inscribed in 2008 (3.COM) on the Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity, nomination file 00060. Cambodia's Ministry of Culture and Fine Arts lists it first among the country's UNESCO-registered intangible heritage, registered on 7 November 2003. (UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage, Royal ballet of Cambodia; Ministry of Culture and Fine Arts, Intangible Cultural Heritage)

Communities and practitioners

Classical Cambodian music and dance ensembles founded in America carry the tradition among Cambodian American communities, often led by survivors and their students. (Alliance for California Traditional Arts, Charya Cheam Burt profile)

In Cambodia

The Royal University of Fine Arts in Phnom Penh, the main school of classical dance (PBS NewsHour and KQED, the 1,000-year-old dance tradition (2015))
The Royal Ballet of Cambodia, the state troupe that performs on official occasions and tours abroad, drawn from the Ministry of Culture and Fine Arts and the national arts schools (Cambodianess, Royal dance returns to France (2025); People's Daily and Xinhua, Cambodia's Royal Ballet to perform at folk dance festival in Xinjiang (2025))
Sophiline Arts Ensemble (formerly Khmer Arts Ensemble), a classical dance and music company at the Khmer Arts Theatre in Takhmao, Kandal Province (ASEF culture360, Sophiline Arts Ensemble)
Prumsodun Ok & NATYARASA, described as Cambodia's first gay dance company, which restages classical dances and creates new works (Prumsodun Ok & NATYARASA, official site)

In the United States

Cambodian American Heritage, founded in 1980, whose dance troupe and music ensemble perform in the greater Washington, DC area; its dance director Sam-Oeun Tes received a National Endowment for the Arts heritage fellowship in 1998, and master musician Chum Ngek leads its ensemble (Cambodian-American Heritage, Inc., home page; Cambodian-American Heritage, Inc., master dancers and musicians)
The Khmer Classical Dance Troupe, formed by surviving dancers, singers and musicians in the Thai border refugee camps and reorganized in the Silver Spring, Maryland area in the early 1980s under the direction of Peou Khatna (National Endowment for the Arts, Peou Khatna)
The Cambodian Buddhist Society Culture Committee at the Cambodian Buddhist Society Silver Spring temple in Maryland, whose Sunday classical and folk dance and music classes began in 1990 under Peou Khatna (Cambodian Buddhist Society Culture Committee, Cultural Programs)
Angkor Dance Troupe, founded in 1986 in Lowell, Massachusetts by Tim Chan Thou and fellow refugees, which has trained over 7,000 students (Angkor Dance Troupe, Our Story)
Charya Burt Cambodian Dance, a company in the San Francisco North Bay (Charya Burt Cambodian Dance, official site)
Khmer Arts Academy, founded in Long Beach, California in 2002 by Sophiline Cheam Shapiro, which closed in 2022 (Brandeis University, Spotlight on Artists; Modern Apsara Company, MAC Krus)
Modern Apsara Company, founded in Long Beach in 2022 by Mea Lath (Modern Apsara Company, official site)
Cambodian Celestial Dance, a classical dance group in Northern Virginia founded in 2021 by master teacher Devi Yim and her students (Cambodian Celestial Dance, About; Cambodian Celestial Dance, official site)

Masters and teachers

Creator pages on this site: Sisowath Kossamak, Norodom Buppha Devi, Em Theay, Voan Savay and Chheng Phon.

Sophiline Cheam Shapiro, among the first generation of classically trained dancers to graduate from the School of Fine Arts in Phnom Penh after 1979, and a National Heritage Fellow (2009) (Wikipedia, Sophiline Cheam Shapiro)
Charya Burt, who trained from 1982 at the University of Fine Arts and studied under Soth Sam On (Alliance for California Traditional Arts, Charya Cheam Burt profile; The Star and Phnom Penh Post, Rebirth of Apsara returns home (2025))
Devi Yim, a graduate of the University of Fine Arts (1987/1988, estimated) and a principal master teacher in the United States for about thirty years (Cambodian Celestial Dance, About; Cambodian-American Heritage, Inc., master dancers)
Peou Khatna, a court dancer who began training at age seven, performed lead roles and later directed the Khmer Classical Dance Troupe (National Endowment for the Arts, Peou Khatna)
Hun Pen, a dancer in the neang role, choreographer and researcher of the post-1979 revival, and Deputy Director of the Department of Performing Arts (Hun Pen, official site; Center for Khmer Studies, Archive and documentation of Cambodian dance panel)
Sam-Oeun Tes, who studied with the Royal Ballet from 1966 (Cambodian-American Heritage, Inc., master dancers and musicians)

Sources