How did Cambodian dance develop?

Cambodian dance has been in existence for thousands of years and people use it to show spirituality. People respect all artistic activities held in palaces, pagodas, temples and other religious places. In the course of thousands of years of dance education history, dance even so prevalent, but due to historical factors, so far lack of accurate teaching and education records. The function of dance in Cambodian society has changed with the development of the society. In the modern society, because of its values and aesthetic values, it has become a social entertainment, a subject of educational syllabus and a choice of career for many people. The establishment of schools and dance troupes has played a very important role in preserving Cambodian dance, as well as maintaining and creating a new generation of traditional culture. Cambodia has now established many dance-related institutions, such as the Royal University of Fine Arts of Cambodia, the Royal Academy of Fine Arts of Cambodia, the Siem Reap School of Arts of Cambodia, the Phnom Penh School of Dance, and so on, all of which are dedicated to the development of Cambodian dance education and have produced a large number of excellent dancers and teachers.

The Royal Cambodian University of Fine Arts is the most prestigious art school in Cambodia, which mainly conducts courses related to traditional dance, folk dance and modern dance. This school is very excellent and standardized both in terms of faculty and curriculum, and there are many famous Cambodian dancers in the school, who have trained very many excellent dance teachers and dancers. At the same time, the school actively participates in the art academic exchange activities of countries around the world, such as exchanges with China, which has maintained friendly relations with Cambodia for a long time, and in the "China - ASEAN" Dance Education Forum organized by the China Dancers Association and the Guangxi Arts Institute in 2015, the dean of the school's School of Dance Art, Jim Pinner, also went to Guangxi Arts Institute. Jim Pinner also went to Guangxi Arts Institute to participate in the forum activities, and Chinese dance master teacher academic discussions and elaborated on the development of Cambodian dance art and the Royal University of the Arts School of Dance curriculum.

The Royal Cambodian Academy of Fine Arts (RCAFA) is a long-established and influential art school in Cambodia, which not only offers courses in court dance, but also trains students in folk dance. The school has strict requirements for those teachers who choreograph folk dances. Teachers must undergo research and study in both folk and classical dances before deciding whether or not to choose to specialize in folk dances. If they choose to specialize in folk dances, in the process of choreographing folk dances they need to go deep into the countryside to find dance vocabulary depicting the life. setting up basic poses and movements.

The Siem Reap School of the Arts in Cambodia was established in 2000 by the Cambodian Ministry of Education, the Ministry of Youth and Sports, and the Italian Children's Aid Center*** to guarantee Cambodian children's right to learn about their country's culture, and to train future stars of the arts. The school now has a large number of students and offers a variety of dance-related courses such as classical dance, folk dance, art history, etc. The school selects students in each village based on certain criteria such as learning attitude, artistic talent, physical form, etc. The students, who are around 10 to 13 years old, study at the art school for four years and at the same time go to a public school to learn at the same time. The teachers of the school are also carefully selected, most of them are famous Cambodian dance teachers, and many of them are excellent students who graduated from the Royal University of the Arts of Cambodia.

At present, in addition to the above mentioned schools that have an influence on the development of Cambodian dance, there are also more dance troupes, dance troupes including the historic Royal Cambodian Ballet, the Cambodian National Dance Troupe, the Cambodian National Dance Troupe, the Cambodian Folk Dance Troupe, the Cambodian Cultural Dance Troupe and so on, and each one of them is devoted to the development of its own characteristics, and also makes an important contribution to the Cambodian court and folk dance, and there are many excellent leaders in these troupes. There are many excellent leaders and choreographers in these troupes, who are committed to restoring and developing traditional court dances and have created many excellent works, and it is because these excellent dance groups have gone out of Cambodia to tour to different countries that the people of the world have learned about such a charismatic treasure of art.

In these dance troupes have to be mentioned is the oldest Cambodian dance troupe - the Royal Cambodian Ballet, in the history of Cambodia, this dance troupe in the king's coronation or wedding and other major festivals to perform, the Royal Cambodian Ballet and Cambodian dance art **** with the development of the history of thousands of years, is the Cambodian royal family to receive VIP guests, and is the Royal Cambodian Ballet, the Royal Cambodian Ballet, and the Royal Cambodian Ballet. The Royal Cambodian Ballet is the most important artistic troupe for the Cambodian royal family to receive VIPs and visit other countries. The dancers of the Royal Cambodian Ballet undergo strict training from the age of 6 years old, which is very demanding. In the Royal Ballet of Cambodia, most of the roles are played by female dancers, while other animal roles, such as horses and mysterious lions, are played by men. Throughout Cambodia's history, the Royal Ballet has become a symbol of the King's prestige, and the dancers are almost a part of the Cambodian court. Royal patronage of the ballet has been a tradition since ancient times, and the company's performances have ranged from pure dance works, to dances with human movement, to dances based on myths and legends. The types of works performed by the Royal Ballet are clearly defined, and the audience can accurately distinguish them from one another by their movements. The Royal Ballet is committed to the restoration and reconstruction of Cambodian dance, and today the company retains 40 dances and 60 dance dramas.

Besides the most prestigious Royal Ballet there is also the Cambodian Cultural Dance Troupe, Ms. savary is the artistic director of the Cambodian Cultural Arts Troupe, she and the Cambodian Cultural Dance Troupe are dedicated to the preservation of Cambodia's traditional culture of classical and folk dances, which she wishes to preserve, and in memory of her teachers who died in the Cambodian Holocaust. Many of the teachers and instructors in the Cambodian Dance and Culture Troupe are from Western countries, most of whom came to live in Cambodia at an early age, far from home, and have tirelessly made important contributions to the Cambodian dance culture. Cambodian Dance Culture Troupe has participated in many big and small dance performances in the country, and has also spread the knowledge of Cambodian dance culture through various forms.

Nowadays, Cambodian dance is not only pure folk, court and theater dance, some European ballet dance educators came to Cambodia and set up ballet dance schools, such as StephenBlimsonw, 29 years old from Britain, who brought ballet into Cambodia, a country where traditional dance is the main focus, and cooperated with the granddaughter of the Princess of Cambodia to open the Cambodian first ballet school.