Film

Monkey Dance

Monkey Dance is a 2004 documentary by Julie Mallozzi about three Cambodian-American teenagers coming of age in Lowell, Massachusetts.[1][2] All three dance with the Angkor Dance Troupe, and the film follows how dance links them to their parents' culture.[2]

A guide cover with the title Monkey Dance, a documentary film by Julie Mallozzi, above a black-and-white photo of hands holding a carved monkey mask.
Cover of the classroom guide for Monkey Dance.

Synopsis

The teenagers' parents survived the Khmer Rouge. They made their way through the jungles to refugee camps in Thailand, and in the early 1980s they resettled in Lowell, a historic New England mill city.[3] For them, Lowell held the hope of safety, work and a chance to rebuild some of what the Khmer Rouge had shattered.[2] Their children grow up in a tough, working-class world shadowed by those memories. Classical dance connects them with their parents' heritage, though fast cars, shopping and having fun often pull them more strongly.[2]

Samnang Hor, 16, was born in a refugee camp in Thailand. He is an athlete who is driven to succeed, and he receives his college acceptance letters in the film. Sochenda Uch, 16, is lanky and fashion-conscious and works a series of part-time jobs. His grades slide, every college he applies to turns him down, and he keeps working to get in. Linda Sou, 17, has danced since she was three. That year her father started the Angkor Dance Troupe to keep Cambodian culture alive in America. She works to move past a shame that has fallen on her family. A trip to Cambodia helps her understand what her parents lost and gave up.[2][1]

The parents speak Khmer, while the teenagers speak American teen slang.[4] Mallozzi interviewed the parents through a translator. They spoke about their long shifts in local electronics factories, the struggle of raising teenagers in America, and what they lived through under the Khmer Rouge.[5] Over time the three teenagers come to value their parents' sacrifices and begin to make good on their parents' dreams.[1]

The dance

Two masks with tall spired crowns, one green and one blue, with bared fangs, displayed against a pale wall.
Yak and monkey masks of Khmer classical dance.

The Angkor Dance Troupe is a demanding performance group that preserves Cambodian dance traditions. The film's makers state that the tradition nearly disappeared when 90 percent of its practitioners were killed amid the Khmer Rouge violence.[2] The piece most associated with the troupe is Swa Pol, the Monkey Dance. It comes from a story in the Reamker (រាមកេរ្តិ៍), the Khmer version of the Indian epic the Ramayana, about monkey soldiers celebrating a victory on the battlefield. The troupe has added hip-hop choreography while keeping the characters true to their nature as wily, acrobatic monkeys.[6]

Both classical and modern dance give the three teenagers self-confidence, a feel for their roots and an outlet for self-expression.[1][6] By making the dance their own, they forge a link with the past while finding their way in America.[1]

Production and credits

Mallozzi directed, filmed and edited the documentary over nearly four years, shooting most of it herself as a one-person crew. She began by filming rehearsals, performance tours and team-building workshops. She also gave each of the three teenagers a small video camera to record their own lives.[5][1] It was her second film.[6]

Julie Mallozzi and Rebecca Sherman share the writing credit, with Sherman credited as writing consultant.[2] Shondra Burke was editing consultant, and Jorrit Dijkstra composed the music.[2] WGBH-TV, the Center for Asian American Media and the Independent Television Service were partners in the production. Funders included the LEF Moving Image Fund, the Massachusetts Foundation for the Humanities, the Corporation for Public Broadcasting and the Sundance Institute Documentary Fund.[2] The film is in Khmer and English. It runs 65 minutes, and a 56-minute television version also exists.[3][6]

Release and reception

The film had its first screening on September 9, 2004, at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston.[7] Its public television premiere followed in May 2006.[8][3] It won the Audience Favourite Feature Award at the Toronto Reel Asian International Film Festival and an Insight Award from the National Association of Film and Digital Media Artists.[1] It screened at the Santa Fe International Film Festival, the Wisconsin Film Festival, the San Francisco International Asian American Film Festival, the Asian American International Film Festival in New York, the Smithsonian's Asian Pacific American Film Festival and the San Diego Asian American Film Festival. It was also shown at the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston and the Museum of Natural History in New York.[1] For educational use, it is distributed by the Center for Asian American Media, New Day Films and Berkeley Media.[2]

Mallozzi released a 12-minute follow-up, Dance Family, in 2017. In it Linda, Sochenda and Samnang have returned to the Cambodian-American community in Lowell, where they help the next wave of immigrants and refugees.[2]

Watch

References 8
  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 1.6 1.7 New Day Films, Monkey Dance (2024-05-14)
  2. ↑ 2.00 2.01 2.02 2.03 2.04 2.05 2.06 2.07 2.08 2.09 2.10 Julie Mallozzi Productions, Monkey Dance
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 Julie Mallozzi Productions, Monkey Dance press kit
  4. ↑ MIT Admissions, Monkey Dance
  5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 Julie Mallozzi Productions, Monkey Dance: Director's Statement
  6. ↑ 6.0 6.1 6.2 6.3 New Day Films, Monkey Dance Viewer's Guide
  7. ↑ Harvard Gazette, Documentary film focuses on three Cambodian teenagers (October 7, 2004)
  8. ↑ Independent Television Service, Monkey Dance
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This page was last edited on 27 October 2026, at 04:38.