Em Theay
| Em Theay | |
|---|---|
| Also known as | EM Theay; Neak Krou Em Theay |
| Roles | Master practitioner; Tradition bearer; Educator |
| Based in | Cambodia |
| Recognition | Nominated on 3 October 2012 by King Norodom Sihamoni as one of Cambodia's first seventeen Living Human Treasures (https://www.unesco.org/en/articles/memory-neak-krou-em-theay) |
| Subjects | Dance & Theatre; Music & Sound; History & Remembrance |
Master of the Royal Ballet of Cambodia who taught Khmer classical dance and traditional singing to postwar generations.
Em Theay was a master of the Royal Ballet of Cambodia, known as a teacher of Khmer classical dance and of the traditional singing that accompanies it. She survived the Khmer Rouge period and afterwards trained generations of students in Phnom Penh, and is described in Cambodian and international accounts as a grande dame of Khmer dance. King Norodom Sihamoni nominated her on 3 October 2012 as one of Cambodia's first seventeen Living Human Treasures. (UNESCO, In memory of Neak Krou Em Theay; National Museum of Cambodia exhibition page on Em Theay; CambodgeMag, Eternal shadows of Em Theay)