Tradition

Robam Tep Apsara

របាំទេពអប្សរា


Robam Tep Apsara (របាំទេពអប្សរា, Robam Tep Apsara) is a classical dance of the Royal Ballet of Cambodia in which women portray the celestial apsaras.[1] It is one of the national symbols of Cambodia, and it is often simply called the Apsara Dance.[1][2]

Names

The Khmer name means "Dance of the Apsara Divinities."[2][3] It is also translated as "the dance of the celestial nymphs."[4] The word apsara comes from the Sanskrit apsaras, "celestial nymph."[4] The piece is also known as the Apsara Dance of the Royal Ballet, and as Robam Tep Apsor, the Ballet of the White Apsara.[3][5] In Cambodia the apsara figure itself is called Tep Apsar, the white apsara.[6]

The language site Ling distinguishes the court piece, which it calls rarer and more exclusive, from the more widely performed Apsara Dance.[3][7]

Practice

The dance is performed by women who are sewn into tight-fitting traditional dress. Their graceful, sinuous gestures follow a fixed code and tell classical myths or religious stories.[1][8] A pinpeat orchestra plays the music.[1]

A principal dancer leads a group of apsaras who walk together in a garden.[9] The dance portrays the apsara Mera in a garden, joined by apsara maidens who present flowers as a sign of love for Cambodia and its people.[1][9][4] In the telling of diaspora teacher Charya Burt, Mera is dressed in white for purity, and the golden flowers she carries stand for the happiness and well-being of the Cambodian people.[10] The lead role belongs to the Neang, the female character type of the Royal Ballet.[11]

The dancers move in a synchronized formation. Their steps are slow and deliberate, with small knee bends, raised heels, and heels lowered to the ground on each beat, and they keep a smile throughout.[12] The posture holds a slightly arched lower back, and the toes are lifted higher than the rest of the foot.[6] Hand, arm, body and foot movements combine to carry meaning. A finger or hand position can stand for a flower or a leaf, or for words such as "I," "love" and "over there."[6] These controlled gestures are meant to show fluidity, balance and serenity as well as tell the story.[4]

The makeup has a white base with black and red accents. With the jeweled headdresses, it helps the dancers portray supernatural beings and makes their facial expressions easier for the audience to see.[4]

Costume

The costume is modeled on the apsaras and devatas (standing female guardian figures) of the Angkor Wat bas-reliefs.[1][2] The dancer wears a sampot sarabap, a skirt-cloth of silk brocade. It is worn in the samloy style and finely pleated at the front, like the dress of an Angkorian devata. The lead dancer's sampot is generally white, and a skin-colored silk bodice is worn above it to suggest nudity.[1] The principal performs the White Apsara, while the dancers around her wear colored silk skirts.[6]

The lead apsara's headdress has three points and two rows of round ornaments, like an apsara carved at Angkor. The other dancers usually wear a three-point crown with one row. Five-point crowns are often left out of modern routines.[1][2] One account of a dance class lists a five-pointed headdress as part of the costume.[8] A flower tassel hangs on the left side of the crown, or mokot, and a champei flower is worn on the right side of the head.[1] The Neang crown in this dance is its own and is not worn in any other dance.[11]

The jewelry has names of its own:[1][2]

  • srang kar or samrong kar, a round collar below the neck with gold-colored copper ornaments and beadwork
  • kravat khim khat, a belt that matches the collar
  • dangling earrings in bunches, modeled on the krorsang flower
  • four kinds of wrist jewelry: kong rak, patrum, kong ngor and sanlek
  • snab dei or baing phap, an armlet worn on both arms
  • two kinds of gold ankle jewelry: kong tong chhuk and kong ngor, also called kong kravel
  • sangvar, a loose band of beads worn crosswise
  • a golden flower of thin copper, worn at the waist or carried in the dance

A dancer may also wear a garland of jasmine.[1] The crowns can weigh up to five kilograms (11 pounds), and the jewelry weighs at least as much. In the Angkor period these pieces were made of gold; today the crowns, bracelets and anklets are painted gold.[6] Real frangipani flowers are worn in the hair, with a woven cluster of jasmine hanging from one side of the crown. Frangipani is kept for this ballet and is regarded as unlucky in a woman's hair outside its ceremonies.[6] Costume details vary, including the arrangement of flowers and jewelry.[1][9]

The crowns are regarded as sacred. Their two side pieces represent angels' wings.[6] Before putting on a crown, a dancer offers fruit, incense and prayers and asks her teacher, her ancestors and the divinities for permission to wear it.[6]

Meaning and significance

In Hindu and Buddhist belief, apsaras are female spirits of the clouds and waters, and in Hindu tradition they danced for the gods in heaven.[8][4] One story has the apsaras rise from the churning of the ocean of milk, when gods and demons sought amrita, the nectar of immortality.[6] The dance also recalls the union of the hermit Kampu and the apsara Mera, the story told of the origin of the Khmer people.[12] Khmer folklore holds that when the apsaras play, sing and dance, plants and animals multiply and flourish, and that Cambodians made their dance by learning from them.[9]

The dance is regarded as an expression of spirituality and femininity, and of the bond between people and the divine.[4] It was believed to bring prosperity and good fortune to the country.[4] At festivals it carries wishes for a peaceful and prosperous life and praise for Cambodia's land, its gods and the merits of the ancestors.[9] Because it joins movement, costume, music and story, it is both an art form and a sign of Cambodian identity.[3][4]

History

Apsaras are a major motif in the stone bas-reliefs of the Angkorian temples, from the eighth to the thirteenth centuries. Female figures that dance, or stand ready to dance, are apsaras; those that stand still and face forward, like temple guardians, are devatas.[1] Some accounts trace the dance to the seventh century, and others to the Angkor period between the ninth and fifteenth centuries, when it became part of court ritual.[12][4] For centuries it was performed at the royal court, including at coronations, weddings and funerals.[9][4]

The dance in its modern form was created under Queen Sisowath Kossamak, the wife of King Norodom Suramarit. On a visit to the Sothearath primary school, she watched young children perform an Angkor apsara dance in paper costumes: a crown, a sampot and a flower, all taken from the apsaras of Angkor.[1][2] Wikipedia dates the visit to the 1950s, and A Stamp A Day to the 1940s.[1][2] The queen rebuilt the dance from the Phuong Neary dance (របាំភួងនារី), set to pinpeat music and the song "Deum Chheung" (ដើមឈិង).[1] The dance was created in her honor.[11]

Her first granddaughter, Princess Norodom Buppha Devi, a daughter of Norodom Sihanouk, became the first professional apsara dancer of the modern era. She began to practice at age five and first danced the role during King Norodom Sihanouk's reign. In 1967 she performed it in the open pavilion within the palace walls, with the royal dance troupe and the pinpeat orchestra. She later toured the world as the principal dancer in the role.[1][2] The princess later led the Royal Ballet.[7]

Until the mid-twentieth century the Royal Ballet's dances were performed only for royal ceremonies. After that they were also danced in public, at weddings, coronations, national ceremonies and on stage.[11][6] Under the Khmer Rouge, during Democratic Kampuchea (1975 to 1979), the regime set out to wipe out traditional Khmer art, and the Apsara Dance came close to being lost. The Royal Ballet revived it afterward.[3][12]

On April 13, 1985, Cambodia issued a set of three stamps of traditional Khmer dances; the three-riel stamp shows a single apsara dancer.[2] In 2003 the UNESCO-sponsored International Festival of the Dance of the Golden Age in Phnom Penh presented the Apsara Dance with other traditional Khmer dances.[4] The Royal Ballet, with Tep Apsara among its most common dances, was recognized as intangible cultural heritage in 2008.[11][4]

Prima ballerinas

Princess Norodom Buppha Devi was the first prima ballerina in the apsara role. Those who followed include:[1]

  • Seng Sreymom
  • Voan Savay
  • Douch Thach
  • Voan Savong
  • Yim Devi
  • Mom Kanika
  • Ouk Phalla
  • Sok Sokhoeun
  • Chap Chamroeunmina
  • Chen Chansoda
  • Sin Sakkada, prima ballerina in the role as of 2026

Community

The dance is kept by the women of the Royal Ballet of Cambodia, with the pinpeat orchestra.[1] It is now performed widely at holidays and festivals, including Khmer New Year.[9] The annual Angkor Sankranta festival, held at Khmer New Year in mid-April, includes traditional music and dance.[4] As of 2024, nightly shows are held near Angkor Wat and in restaurants in Siem Reap, and the National Museum of Cambodia in Phnom Penh holds weekly performances.[4][12] In November 2015, the dance was part of the Cambodian Living Arts traditional dance show in the National Museum's outdoor hall.[13]

The dance is also taught outside the royal troupe. The Royal University of Fine Arts in Phnom Penh offers courses in it.[4] Since 1998, a nongovernmental organization on the edge of Phnom Penh has taught children the dance and its history.[8] Dance academies in Cambodia train young apsara dancers and give women work as performers, teachers and choreographers.[4] Each year, Khmer classical artists hold a Sampeah Kru ceremony to ask the Buddha, Ta Yse, their teachers and the ancestors of dance, music and theater for blessing, protection and prosperity.[6]

See also

References

  1. ↑ 1.00 1.01 1.02 1.03 1.04 1.05 1.06 1.07 1.08 1.09 1.10 1.11 1.12 1.13 1.14 1.15 1.16 1.17 1.18 Wikipedia, Apsara Dance
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 2.5 2.6 2.7 2.8 A Stamp A Day, Dance of the Apsara Divinities (June 2018)
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 3.4 Ling, Khmer top five folk arts (Khmer edition)
  4. ↑ 4.00 4.01 4.02 4.03 4.04 4.05 4.06 4.07 4.08 4.09 4.10 4.11 4.12 4.13 4.14 4.15 4.16 Triplekangkor, What does the Apsara dance symbolize in Cambodia?
  5. ↑ Khmer Times, Sacred dancers on a thorny path to creating the authentic Apsara
  6. ↑ 6.00 6.01 6.02 6.03 6.04 6.05 6.06 6.07 6.08 6.09 6.10 Slideshare, Khmer culture, civilization (part 8) (February 2018)
  7. ↑ 7.0 7.1 Ling, Incredible Khmer top five folk arts (September 2023)
  8. ↑ 8.0 8.1 8.2 8.3 Enchanting Travels, Keeping traditions alive: Apsara dance classes, Cambodia (January 2020)
  9. ↑ 9.0 9.1 9.2 9.3 9.4 9.5 9.6 Asiakingtravel, Explore Bom Chaul Chnam Festival in Cambodia (August 2024)
  10. ↑ Charya Burt Cambodian Dance, Classical Repertory
  11. ↑ 11.0 11.1 11.2 11.3 11.4 Khmer Times, The four main roles of Cambodian classical dancing
  12. ↑ 12.0 12.1 12.2 12.3 12.4 Rolling Grace, Apsara: traditional Cambodian dance
  13. ↑ Khmer Times, Traditional dance: more support needed (November 2015)

Sources

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This page was last edited on 2 October 2026, at 01:35.