Cambodia | Royal Ballet of Cambodia | Lights and Shadows | The Exile of Preah Ream

Описание: This videoclip features a performance of ‘Lights and Shadows’ by the Royal Ballet of Cambodia. This new creation, conceived by Princess Norodom Buppha Devi, brings together the three most important traditions of Cambodian musical theater: the Royal Ballet (court dance); lkhaon khaol (male dance-drama with masks); and sbek thom (shadow theater).
Court theater was for a long time a form of dance-drama exclusively reserved for the royal family, which included within its court a group of dancers and musicians. The dancers of the royal court long retained a ritual function, serving as a means of communication between kings and the supernatural realms. The dance is based on a complex vocabulary of gestures performed to narrate the story, which is also sung by one or more vocalists during the performance.
Male theater was also long associated with the royal court. The choreographic style of khaol is more energetic than that of court theater, featuring broader and less grounded movements. In this tradition, too, storytelling is entrusted to singing and recited voices, but they do not overlap with the dance. Instead, the performance alternates between dramatic moments, in which actors perform a form of pantomime, and choreographed sequences. In the Royal Ballet, however, characters are played by women, except for the roles of the monkeys, and the hermit.
The same alternation between acting and dance also characterizes sbek thom. This distinctive form of shadow theater is characterized by large (up to two meters) leather puppets that can represent a character or depict a scene. Each puppet requires a single puppeteer, who moves it while dancing. The performance includes a large white screen, behind which a light source is placed. During the show, the puppeteers perform both in front of and behind the screen, allowing the audience to see either the actual puppets or their shadows projected onto the white backdrop.
These three theatrical genres were historically intended for different audiences and feature distinct performance practices. However, they share two fundamental elements: the musical accompaniment of the pin peat orchestra—an ensemble consisting of tuned percussion instruments (xylophones and gong chimes), drums, and an oboe—and a repertoire largely drawn from the Reamker, the Cambodian version of the Ramayana. These similarities allowed choreographer Princess Norodom Buppha Devi to envision a performance that transcended traditional genre boundaries. This production not only played a crucial role in revitalizing Cambodian traditional performing arts on an international level, but also laid the foundation for a new phase of innovation in Cambodian musical theater. After years of focusing on reconstruction and the preservation of endangered traditions, performing arts in Cambodia experience a renewed period of creativity and evolution.
This clip shows the beginning of the performance. The scene opens with the shadows of the three main characters—Prah Ream (Prince Rama), Preah Neang Seda (Princess Sita), and Preak Leak (Prince Lakshmana)—projected onto the screen, accompanied by the voice of a singer who, in the cheng char style (literally "make a description"), narrates the exile of the three protagonists that have to leave the kingdom of Ayodhya and take refuge in the Dandaka forest.
Once the narration ends, and after the rhythmic formula performed by the double-headed samphor drum and the skor thom kettledrums, the xylophone introduces the opening of the piece ‘Domnaer Cool Nokor’, which the orchestra performs to accompany Preah Ream march to the forest. The fusion of different genres that defines the performance becomes evident when the characters, initially appearing as puppets, suddenly reappear as they are embodied by the dancers.

The performance was organized by the Intercultural Institute for Comparative Music Studies of the Fondazione Giorgio Cini in collaboration with Zaman Production and the Fondazione Teatro La Fenice of Venice

Teatro Malibran, Venice, 10 May 2014

The ensemble: Cambodian Royal Ballet: HRH Princess Norodon Buppha Devi (choreaographer), Proeung Chhieng (artistic director), Chen Chansoda (Preah Ream), Sin Sakada (Preah Neang Seda), Chap Chamroeuntola (Preah Leak)

More info on this event: https://www.cini.it/en/events/lights-...

Video: Ivan Battain and Laura Ginapri (Fondazione Scuola di San Giorgio)
Video editing and accompanying notes: Gianluca Chelini

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