Amrita’s Dancers in an opera by Peter Sellars

Four Amrita’s dancers, Chumvan Sodhachivy, Khon Chan Sithyka, Nam Narim, and Sam Sathya will be featured in ten performances of Stravinsky’s opera PERSEPHONE directed by Peter Sellars at the Teatro Real in Madrid, Spain from January 14-29, 2012. We would like to share several rehearsal photos. Photo courtesy of Javier Del Real.

The Dancers are all graduates of the Royal University of Fine Arts in Phnom Penh Cambodia and have trained since childhood in Cambodian classical court and masked dance. These dancers represent a new generation of artists born out of the revival and preservation of a performing arts heritage that was nearly annihilated by the purges of the Khmer Rouge regime from 1975 – 1979. Over the past few years, the dancers have been exploring contemporary creativity through cross cultural exchange programs with collaborators from Europe, America, Australia and throughout Asia. These workshops have led to a new generation of Cambodian contemporary dance with repertory that has been presented around the world. All of the dancers remain faithful to their traditional dance heritage but are also eager to further develop as contemporary Cambodian dancers and choreographers.