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Apsara Arts Association
(Community Performing Arts Training and Humanitarian Organization)
Apsara Arts Association, a community organization, aims to provide students with a solid training in Cambodian dance and related arts. Part of their mission is to recognize the accomplishments of older teachers and to transfer their knowledge and experience to the next generation. The Association works to encourage understanding of Cambodia’s artistic heritage both at a local and international level, and hopes to contribute to the reduction of poverty in Cambodia, especially by helping orphans and children from poor families.
Profile
Apsara Arts Association, a non-governmental humanitarian organization based in Phnom Penh, was co-founded by Chhay Sopha and Vong Metry in 1998. Vong Metry studied classical dance in the royal palace before the war and revolution of the mid-1970s. After the ousting of the Khmer Rouge regime, under which a large percentage of the professional dance community died from starvation and disease, Metry worked at the National Department of Performing Arts and the Royal University of Fine Arts as a performer and teacher.
The Association offers training in Cambodian classical and folk dance, folk and other traditional forms of music and singing, and theatre. It also supports students in their studies of English and French. Approximately 20 orphans and children from poor families are offered accommodation, food and everyday necessities; they are also sent to the local state-run school. Students hail from many different places, including the surrounding communities and distant provinces. Some are part of a non-governmental programme for HIV-infected children. The Association’s dance instructors are from the Royal University of Fine Arts and the National Department of Performing Arts, or are graduates of the Apsara Arts program.
Students train every day except Sunday and national holidays. After six years of training, dancers are eligible to take an examination for the Association’s certificate. After that they may become teachers or professional performers with the Association’s troupe.
The Apsara Arts Association organizes performances at its own space and on other stages around Phnom Penh and elsewhere in the country. They frequently create new pieces in the classical and folk genres at the request of individuals, non-governmental organizations, and other institutions. Students have toured abroad for performances, exchanges, and workshops.
The hope is for students to become capable, professional performers, instructors, and/or general contributors to the preservation and understanding of Cambodian performing arts. Looking to the future, the Association plans to seek support to grant poor students aid to help sustain their families, and to look for money for additional dance costumes. Another plan is to establish branches of Apsara Arts in provincial areas where there isn’t currently access to training in classical and folk dance. These branches would be places of employment for dancers who graduate from the Apsara Arts Association’s Phnom Penh center. /San Phalla
Apsara Arts Association
#71, St. 598, Sangkat Phnom Penh Thmey
Khan Sen Sok, Phnom Penh
Cambodia
Phone: + 855 89 789 644
apsara_art@online.com.kh or
admin@apsara-art.org
Directors: Chhay Sopha and Vong Metry
Apsara Arts Association, a community organization, aims to provide students with a solid training in Cambodian dance and related arts. Part of their mission is to recognize the accomplishments of older teachers and to transfer their knowledge and experience to the next generation. The Association works to encourage understanding of Cambodia’s artistic heritage both at a local and international level, and hopes to contribute to the reduction of poverty in Cambodia, especially by helping orphans and children from poor families.
Profile
Apsara Arts Association, a non-governmental humanitarian organization based in Phnom Penh, was co-founded by Chhay Sopha and Vong Metry in 1998. Vong Metry studied classical dance in the royal palace before the war and revolution of the mid-1970s. After the ousting of the Khmer Rouge regime, under which a large percentage of the professional dance community died from starvation and disease, Metry worked at the National Department of Performing Arts and the Royal University of Fine Arts as a performer and teacher.
The Association offers training in Cambodian classical and folk dance, folk and other traditional forms of music and singing, and theatre. It also supports students in their studies of English and French. Approximately 20 orphans and children from poor families are offered accommodation, food and everyday necessities; they are also sent to the local state-run school. Students hail from many different places, including the surrounding communities and distant provinces. Some are part of a non-governmental programme for HIV-infected children. The Association’s dance instructors are from the Royal University of Fine Arts and the National Department of Performing Arts, or are graduates of the Apsara Arts program.
Students train every day except Sunday and national holidays. After six years of training, dancers are eligible to take an examination for the Association’s certificate. After that they may become teachers or professional performers with the Association’s troupe.
The Apsara Arts Association organizes performances at its own space and on other stages around Phnom Penh and elsewhere in the country. They frequently create new pieces in the classical and folk genres at the request of individuals, non-governmental organizations, and other institutions. Students have toured abroad for performances, exchanges, and workshops.
The hope is for students to become capable, professional performers, instructors, and/or general contributors to the preservation and understanding of Cambodian performing arts. Looking to the future, the Association plans to seek support to grant poor students aid to help sustain their families, and to look for money for additional dance costumes. Another plan is to establish branches of Apsara Arts in provincial areas where there isn’t currently access to training in classical and folk dance. These branches would be places of employment for dancers who graduate from the Apsara Arts Association’s Phnom Penh center. /San Phalla
Apsara Arts Association
#71, St. 598, Sangkat Phnom Penh Thmey
Khan Sen Sok, Phnom Penh
Cambodia
Phone: + 855 89 789 644
apsara_art@online.com.kh oradmin@apsara-art.orgDirectors: Chhay Sopha and Vong Metry
