Khmer classical dance is the epic poem of Rama (Ramayana) and believed to have been revealed to a Hindu holy man named Valmiki by Brahma, the god of creation. This religious literary work, dating from about ad 4, is known in various versions throughout India and Southeast Asia. In Cambodia, the story has been set to music and dance and performed by the Royal Ballet since the 18th century. Although the epic is also known in the villages, where it is translated orally or dramatized in the popular shadow puppet theater, the ballet was traditionally a courtly art performed in the palace or for princely festivals. The music of the ballet is performed by the Pinpeat orchestra, which is made up of traditional xylophones, metallophones, horizontal gongs, drums, and cymbals. Khmer classical dancers are often referred to as apsara dancers, which in the modern sense would be incorrect as the apsara is only a type of character performed by the dancers.

History

Some of Cambodians scholars, such as Pech Tum Kravel, and French archaeologist George Groslier have mentioned that Khmer classical dance is part of an unbroken tradition dating to the Angkor period. Other scholars theorize that Khmer classical dance, as seen today, developed from Indian court dance, which traces its origins to the apsarases of Hindu mythology, heavenly female nymphs who were born to dance for the gods. The traditions of Thailand and Java (in Indonesia) also influenced the music and dance of Cambodia. In classical Cambodian dance, women, dressed in brightly colored costumes with elaborate headdresses, perform slow, graceful movements accompanied by a percussive ensemble known as the pinpeat. Pinpeat orchestras include drums, gongs, and bamboo xylophones. In Cambodia's villages, plays performed by actors wearing masks are popular. Shadow plays, performed using black leather puppets that enact scenes from the Reamkern, are also enjoyed. Folk dancing is popular in rural Cambodia and is performed spontaneously to a drumbeat.

One of the earliest records of dance in Cambodia is from the 7th century, where performances were used as a funeral rite for kings and this ritual continues to this day. During the Angkor period, dance was ritually performed at temples. The temple dancers came to be considered as apsaras, who served as entertainers and messengers to divinities. Ancient stone inscriptions, describe thousands of apsara dancers assigned to temples and performing divine rites as well as for the public. The tradition of temple dancers declined during the 15th century, as the Siamese kingdom of Ayutthaya raided Angkor. When Angkor collapsed, its artisans, Brahmins, and dancers were taken to Ayutthaya. The tradition of royal court dance however, did continue.

In the 19th century, King Ang Duong, who had spent many years at the Siamese court in Bangkok, restructured his royal court with Siamese innovations. This restructuring also affected the classical dance of the royal court (a symbol of the king's wealth and power) whose costumes were remodelled after Thai classical dance costumes.

In the early 20th, dancers of the court of King Sisowath (second son of King Ang Duong to reign) were exhibited at the French Colonial Exposition in Marseilles where they captured the heart of French artist Auguste Rodin who painted many watercolors of the dancers. Many writers had compared classical dancers to the bas-relief of apsarases which may have led to the strong affinity many people have for the two today. After World War II, Khmer classical dance underwent a renaissance brought on by former Queen of Cambodia, Kossamak Nearireath, the mother of then Prince Sihanouk.

Khmer classical dance suffered a huge blow during the Khmer Rouge regime during which many dancers were killed because classical dance was thought as of an aristocratic institution. Although 90 percent of all Cambodian classical artists perished between 1975 and 1979 after the fall of the Khmer Rouge, those who did survive wandered out from hiding, found one another, and formed "colonies" in order to revive their sacred traditions. Khmer classical dance training was resurrected in the refugee camps in eastern Thailand with the few surviving Khmer dancers. Many dances and dance dramas were also recreated at the Royal University of Fine-Arts in Cambodia. The Royal Ballet of Cambodia was the main troupe of classical dancers in Cambodia before the Khmer Rouge regime, but since Cambodia has gain its peace, a few other professional and amateur troupes have risen.