23/11/2013
The Apsara Dance reflects one of the origin myths in Cambodia, depicting the union of Mera, a celestial dancer, and Kambu, a wise man.
As with many classical dances today, the Apsara was painstakingly constructed or reconstructed by studying the figures carved onto the walls of Angkor Wat. Much of this work was done in the mid-twentieth century following the fall of the Khmer Rouge regime. Surrounded by four or six dancers, crowned with elaborate golden headdresses, the central figure, the Apsara Mera, leads her coterie on an outing to a delectable garden. The dance allows us to feel the tension and necessity of earthly groundedness and heavenly lightness.