Khmer New Year Show shares dances, tales, and cultural understanding

Last Saturday, the Khmer Student Association (KhSA) hosted the 18th annual New Year Show in the HUB North Ballroom. The show attracted hundreds of people to experience the Cambodian culture.

The Khmer New Year is celebrated each year on April 13 or 14. However, the dates for KhSA’s annual event typically vary from year to year depending on the group’s schedule in the quarter. This year, KhSA members, along with nearby communities, presented a New Year Show event on May 31.

The show was a comedic adaptation based on the 18th century Cambodian classic love story, “Mak Theung.” The original story is about Mak Theung and his young wife Muy Cheuy, who are torn apart by a mean prince, Pya Noy.

KhSA’s “Mak Theung” chronicled the life of the couple’s daughter, Pich, who was born in the United States after her parents’ immigration. Although the couple have had a happy life, they are frustrated that Pich ignores her family’s homeland and cultural heritage. In KhSA’s show, Pich travels back through time to journey through Khmer culture and her parents’ romance, illustrated by classical Cambodian dance performances.

“Many Khmer kids in America lack the knowledge of overall understanding of Cambodia and what a lot of their parents had to endure to provide them a prosperous life,” KhSA president Debbora Sary said. “We decided to connect a Khmer story in the past to our modern lives because it promoted the show to the older generation of their past and to the new generation of Cambodian students.”

The KhSA members performed the Cambodian Blessing Dance, a Khmer classical dance. Dancers pluck blossoms, symbols of the gods’ blessings, out of goblets and toss them forward to indicate that the gods’ blessings are falling upon the guests.

Sary added that the event itself meant a lot to the local Seattle Cambodian groups, such as the Cambodian Cultural Alliance of Washington (CCAW), because they are able to see the younger generation and their willingness to retain Cambodian culture and history.

“[The show] means a lot to the Khmer community as a way for seeing the young generation promoting culture even though there is a generational divide for our parents, especially seeing us host a cultural event despite growing up in America,” Sary said.

Besides the Blessing Dance, KhSA members also performed the Coconut Dance, Fishing Dance, Rice Dance, Krab Dance, and Neary Jea Chor Dance. Each of the dances correspond to a particular element of Khmer culture.

KhSA Dance Chair Vansica Sun organized the dance performances for the event. For her, traditional Khmer dancing is a big part of Khmer culture and reconnected her with her family’s heritage.

“My family did not have any experience in traditional Cambodian dancing,” Sun said. “However, they introduced it to my sister and I in an effort to help us get in touch with our culture. A culture that was an ocean length away.”

Sun’s mother, Sranok Sun, a staff member with UW Medicine, also thought the show had brought her daughter closer to Khmer traditions.

“Khmer New Year show well represented Cambodian culture. It helps both people from Cambodia and people from local communities to get involved and familiar with Cambodian culture,” she said. “As [my daughters] participate in such Khmer New Year show, they get better understandings of their family’s homeland and culture.”

Sourced: dailyuw.com