Masked dance tradition rises from near extinction in Cambodia (via Reuters)
about 66 months ago (01/04/2019)
Masked dance tradition rises from near extinction in Cambodia (via Reuters) | ArtsEquator Thinking and Talking about Arts and Culture in Southeast Asia ArtsEquator Radar REUTERS/Jorge Silva January 4, 2019 PHNOM PENH/BANGKOK (Reuters) – Cambodia’s centuries-old tradition of masked dance was nearly wiped out by the Khmer Rouge’s “Killing Fields” regime, but a handful of artists managed to keep it alive and are now working to pass it along to a new generation. Sun Rithy’s father and grandfather were both performers of the Lakhon Khol masked dance, but the ultra-Maoist Khmer Rouge – who scorned most art as decadent – banned its study when he was a child in the 1970s. Now 48, Sun Rithy leads one of the last Lakhon Khol troupes in Cambodia, made up of about 20 performers and students aged six to 15.