Organization

Sophiline Arts Ensemble


Sophiline Arts Ensemble is a Cambodian classical dance and music company based at the Khmer Arts Theatre in Takhmao, Kandal Province.[1] Known in Khmer as Krom Selapak Sophiline, it was formerly the Khmer Arts Ensemble.[2] The company develops and performs the choreography of its artistic director, Sophiline Cheam Shapiro, and of others, and it produces works of contemporary-classical Cambodian dance.[1][3]

History

The ensemble grew out of the Khmer Arts Academy, which Sophiline Cheam Shapiro co-founded in Long Beach, California, in 2002. The academy was home to the Khmer Arts Ensemble, then a professional touring dance and music troupe of 29 members. In 2006 a second center was established in Cambodia.[4][5] The company's founding is dated in two ways. The 2022 Asia Pacific Dance Festival gives 2006 as the year Sophiline Cheam Shapiro established it. Khmer Times traces it through a series of name and format changes, from Long Beach in 2002 to Cambodia in 2006.[3][6][7]

The parent organization, Khmer Arts, has its own theater in Takhmao, about 11 kilometers (7 miles) from central Phnom Penh, and the ensemble is its professional dance company. The company later took the name Sophiline Arts Ensemble.[8][3] Public dance performances in Cambodia are generally free, and Khmer Arts has had no funding for a regular season, so it has presented performances only from time to time. In 2012 it planned a festival to show a younger generation of artists, including ensemble members whom Sophiline Cheam Shapiro had been training to choreograph, and to build local audiences.[8]

The ensemble rehearsed A Bend in the River at the Khmer Arts Theatre in May 2014, and in June 2015 it was rehearsing at an outdoor space in Kandal Province.[9][10] On January 23, 2016, it presented Tompeang Snong Russey (Bamboo Shoots), a concert of six new and experimental dance pieces, at the Khmer Arts Theatre as part of its What Next series.[11]

Lineage and training

Sophiline Cheam Shapiro was among the first generation of dancers to graduate from the School of Fine Arts in Phnom Penh after 1979. Her primary teacher was Soth Sam On, who was a star performer of yeak (giant) roles in the palace from the 1950s to the 1970s.[12][13]

Repertory

Through classical and contemporary dance, the ensemble takes up social issues that matter in Cambodia and beyond.[10] Its new works often draw on old stories, among them Shakespeare's Othello, Mozart's The Magic Flute and tales from the Reamker. In its new versions of the Reamker, female characters who are traditionally silent have speaking parts.[7] The company also performs classical repertory, including Robam Preah Thong.[14]

A Bend in the River adapts the Cambodian folk tale Kra Peu Kaley. It tells of a young girl, Kaley, whose family is eaten by a crocodile and who seeks revenge.[9][10] Its movement is drawn from the classical dance vocabulary. Two rattan crocodiles, each made of five pieces, are carried by dancers who move in a line to suggest swimming and then circle to fight.[9]

Works by Sophiline Cheam Shapiro performed by the ensemble include:[3][12]

  • Samritechak (2000), a concert-length classical dance adaptation of Shakespeare's Othello[4][7]
  • The Glass Box (2002)[4]
  • Seasons of Migration (2005), including the solo Neang Neak Devi[4][3]
  • Pamina Devi (2006), premiered at Vienna's Schönbrunn Palace Theater for the New Crowned Hope Festival[12][6]
  • A Bend in the River (2013), with the sculptor Sopheap Pich and the composer Him Sophy[12][3][10]
  • Phka Sla (2017), on forced marriage under the Khmer Rouge, with music by Him Sophy[3]
  • Doors (2020), premiered in Phnom Penh, on female migrant workers[3]
  • The Lives of Giants, a fable that brings moral concerns of the present day to life[7][8]

Performances and recognition

The ensemble has received commissions from the Guggenheim Museum's Works & Process series, the Los Angeles Master Chorale, Vienna's New Crowned Hope Festival and UNFPA Cambodia. It has toured four continents, with appearances at the Venice Biennale, the Hong Kong Arts Festival, Walt Disney Concert Hall in Los Angeles, Amsterdam's Muziektheater, New York's Joyce Theater, the China Conservatory in Beijing, Singapore's Esplanade and Les Nuits d'Angkor Festival in Cambodia. It created dances for the documentary Pol Pot Dancing.[3][6] John Shapiro, executive director of Khmer Arts, calls Sophiline Cheam Shapiro the first, and still nearly the only, classical choreographer to make interpretive dances that respond to the contemporary world.[8]

For a time the ensemble performed every Thursday and Friday night at the Counterspace Theatre in Java Creative Café, Tuol Tompong, Phnom Penh. That program had two pieces, a solo prayer for well-being and prosperity and The Lives of Giants, a work for five dancers, introduced by Sophiline Cheam Shapiro.[7] In August 2022 it was a guest company at the Asia Pacific Dance Festival at the University of Hawaii at Manoa. There it held a free community gathering with a classical dance class, a talk-story session with Sophiline Cheam Shapiro and a potluck.[3][6]

People

  • Sophiline Cheam Shapiro, artistic director and choreographer[3]
  • John Shapiro, executive director and co-founder of Khmer Arts[8]
  • Him Sophy, composer of A Bend in the River and Phka Sla[3]
Dancers (2022)

Dancers listed in the 2022 Asia Pacific Dance Festival guide.[3]

  • Sot Sovanndy
  • Mot Pharan
  • Sao Somaly
  • Sao Phirum
  • Long Chanteary
  • Keo Kunthearom
  • Phun Pichoudom

Visiting

The ensemble is based at the Khmer Arts Theatre, No. 135, Street 115, in Ta Kdol Village, Takhmao, about 300 meters (1,000 feet) from National Road 2. In 2016 its evening concerts there began at 7 p.m.[1][11][15] It has also performed in Phnom Penh at the Counterspace Theatre.[7]

See also

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 ASEF culture360, Sophiline Arts Ensemble
  2. ↑ Arts Cambodia, performing arts directory
  3. ↑ 3.00 3.01 3.02 3.03 3.04 3.05 3.06 3.07 3.08 3.09 3.10 3.11 3.12 University of Hawaii at Manoa, 2022 Asia Pacific Dance Festival guide
  4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 4.3 National Endowment for the Arts, Sophiline Cheam Shapiro
  5. ↑ Alliance for California Traditional Arts, Khmer Arts Academy profile
  6. ↑ 6.0 6.1 6.2 6.3 University of Hawaii Center for Southeast Asian Studies, Cambodia community gathering (2022)
  7. ↑ 7.0 7.1 7.2 7.3 7.4 7.5 Khmer Times, The endless dance
  8. ↑ 8.0 8.1 8.2 8.3 8.4 ASEF culture360, At home and abroad: The Khmer Arts Ensemble
  9. ↑ 9.0 9.1 9.2 Swansea University, Remaining with the Khmer Rouge (PDF)
  10. ↑ 10.0 10.1 10.2 10.3 The Theatre Times, Re-Enchanting the World With Performing Arts: Stories From Cambodia (July 2015)
  11. ↑ 11.0 11.1 Kumnooh, January 2016 listings
  12. ↑ 12.0 12.1 12.2 12.3 Wikipedia, Sophiline Cheam Shapiro
  13. ↑ Prumsodun Ok, NATYARASA
  14. ↑ Angkor Database, Sophiline Arts Ensemble Teaching Session
  15. ↑ Contact.page, Music instruction in Cambodia listings
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This page was last edited on 27 September 2026, at 07:20.