The Royal Ballet of Cambodia (, Robam Preah Reach Troap, ) is a classical Khmer dance known for its intricate hand movements and elaborate costumes. Historically linked to the Khmer court, it has been performed at various royal ceremonies such as coronations, weddings, funerals, and Khmer holidays. The repertoire includes various ancient Khmer legends.UNESCO: Royal ballet of Cambodia - Intangible Heritage
The ballet faced near extinction during the Khmer Rouge regime in the 1970s but continues to be a significant element of Cambodian cultural heritage. It has been inscribed on the UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage Lists since 2003.
Etymology Western names for this dance tradition, such as Cambodian court dance, often make reference to the royal court, as the tradition was performed and maintained by attendants of the royal palaces.Banham 1995, p. 154, "performers were wives, concubines, and relatives of the ruler"Brandon 1967, p. 59 "Cambodian court dance" As a performing art, it is formally referred to as the Royal Ballet of Cambodia (le Ballet royal du Cambodge in French) by UNESCO, Cravath, Brandon, and others in the academic field,Cravath 1968 mentions a variation: "Royal Cambodian Ballet".Brandon 1967 mentions "Royal Cambodian Ballet". although this term may also refer to the National Dance Company of Cambodia. The term Khmer classical dance is also used alongside "Royal Ballet of Cambodia" in publications by UNESCO and the above-mentioned authors.
In Khmer, it is formally known as Robam Preah Reach Trop (), lit. "dances of royal wealth") or Lakhon Preah Reach Trop (), lit. "theatre of royal wealth"). It is also referred to as Lakhon Luong (, lit. "the king's theatre").Cravath; romanized as lakhon lueng ("the king's dancers")Fletcher 2001, p. 306 During the Lon Nol regime of Cambodia, the dance tradition was referred to as Lakhon Kbach Boran Khmer (), lit. "Khmer theatre of the ancient style"), a term alienating it from its royal legacy.Sasagawa 2005, p. 437
Khmer classical dancers, as a whole, are frequently referred to as apsara dancers by laymen; this usage would be incorrect with the modern form of the dance, as the apsara is just one type of character among others in the repertoire. Regardless, the tradition's romanticized affiliation with the apsaras and devatas of the ruins of Angkor still persists.
History Angkor and pre-Angkor era
One of the earliest records of dance in Cambodia is from the 7th century, where performances were used as a funeral rite for kings.Brandon 1967, p. 20 Ancient stone inscriptions describe thousands of apsara dancers assigned to temples and performing divine rites as well as for the public. There are five different pre-Angkor inscriptions mentioning dancers. The oldest known inscription in the Khmer language (K.600) is dated 611 on a temple where a god named with the suffix -isvara (Shiva) had merged with another with a name that denotes a tree. The offerings to the temple of one Antar include seven female dancers (jmah ge ram), six of whom are named. Save for two, all names musicians and dancers are in Sanskrit. George Cœdès dated the inscription known as K.51 to the late sixth-early seventh century (although stylistically there's a likeness with fifth century Funan inscriptions). An itemization of gifts from one Indradatta to a temple's deity, there are four legible names of female dancers (called rapam) offered: Ata, Tittaru, Ngarngor, and Kandin. The inscription of K. 138 indicates that four dancers(ram), two female and two male, were offered to a Shiva temple on a waning moon's first day. Inscription K. 155, dated to the late seventh or early eighth century, details one Chief of Granaries offerings that include nine named female dancers (rpam) and then an additional three named female dancers (rpam). Evidence for a literary basis for dance during Funana/Chenla era are found in a sixth century inscription near the Laos border by Veal Kantel, a Cambodian village. King Bhavavarman's brother-in-law offered copies of the Ramayana and Mahabharata to a temple dedicated to Shiva.
During the Angkor period, dance was ritually performed at temples. The temple performers came to be considered as apsaras, who served as entertainers and messengers to divinities.Becker 1998, p. 330 A Yasovarman I-era (889–910 CE) inscription says the king offered several "beautiful [women] dancers" as well as several "handsome, mature men skillful in dance and the other arts, well dressed and adorned with ornament.” Cravath, Paul. Earth in Flower: An Historical and Descriptive Study of the Classical Dance Drama of Cambodia. University Microfilms International, 1987. Page 66 An inscriptions dated 982 explains how those that waste their riches and pillage fields and "golden ornaments and precious stones and all that the founder has given to the farmers, to the dancers and the musicians" ultimately face retribution.Cravath, Paul. Earth in Flower: An Historical and Descriptive Study of the Classical Dance Drama of Cambodia. University Microfilms International, 1987. Page 69 On King Yasovarmann I, another inscription from the 900s says women of the "Masters of the Earth danced in his presence taking from him the rhythm which he gave them by clapping his hands" and that his glory "danced without having learned, to the sound of the songs" that came from the "wives of warriors vanquished by him.”Cravath, Paul. Earth in Flower: An Historical and Descriptive Study of the Classical Dance Drama of Cambodia. University Microfilms International, 1987. Page 75 A column uncovered at Phimeanakas features a late-12th century tribute to Queen Jayarajadevi in a poem by her younger sister, Queen Indradevi, saying in part that having upheld her (Jayarajadevi's) pledge and reached the “Buddhist fruit,” she directed her "own dancers to perform" and "give performances" from the Jataka.
Thai scholar Mattani Mojdara Rutnin states Khmer dancers presumably performed ceremonial dances to Shiva at the temple of Vimayapura, located in modern-day Thailand, and known now by the Thai name Phimai. Mattani suggests these performances may have been the origin of the Thai Phra Phirap ritual dance, which honours the spirits of dance in the Phithi Wai Kru ceremony. Scholar and author Paul Cravath learned from Thai dance authorities that Churning of the Ocean of Milk entered Siam, where the ceremony is called Chak nak Dukdamban, via Khmer performers. Cravath states the Hindu myth as carved on Angkor Wat depicts an actual performance of Khol, the masked, all-male Khmer dance drama.Cravath, Paul. Earth in Flower: An Historical and Descriptive Study of the Classical Dance Drama of Cambodia. University Microfilms International, 1987. Page 126 The people of Sukhothai most likely absorbed Khmer art, such as dance, as the Khmer terms for dance, ram and robam/ropam, emerged as Thai loanwords during this period.
Post-Angkorian era The tradition of temple dancers declined when the Angkor era came to an end. Scholar Xenia Zarina wrote that dance came to Thailand through the Khmer Empire, and when the Thai conquered Angkor, "among the 90,000 prisoners of war were artists and artisans" including dancers, which the Thai "especially loved and cultivated." Thai author and former Director General of the Fine Arts Department Dhanit Yupho says the Khmers may have introduced masked dance-drama to Siam as the Thai word Khon, first appearing in Ayutthaya after Khmer artists were brought to the court, comes from the Khmer word Khol. Scholar Paul Cravath wrote that, whereas dancers were marched off to Ayutthaya when the Siamese captured Angkor, all the evidence points to some of the dancers managing to follow the Khmer king to the new capital - view also held by contemporary Cambodian dance teachers. Portuguese historian Diogo do Couto described a lake with several boats "gathering the rice with merry energy, dances and musical contests” at Angkor in the late 1580s. Monsieur de la Loubere gave a 1688 account of "the rabam" (from the Khmer word robam for dance) in Siamese court dance at Ayutthaya and noted it was performed at funerals, implying Siam retained the ritualistic nature of Khmer robam at least during that period, though later losing its Khmer "ritual function" in favor of the Siamese/Thai dramatic dance.
In the mid 19th century, King Ang Duong spent much of his childhood in Bangkok, where the Siamese King later held the three eldest of Duong's sons captive, and ruled Cambodia as a vassal of Siam. According to one account, the court of Bangkok provided dancers to Ang Duong's court due to declining numbers of ballet dancers in Cambodia, though this claim has been contested. Ballet teacher and scholar Prumsodun Ok argues the perception of low numbers can be explained by the practice of dancers leaving the court upon the death of a sovereign.Cravath, Paul. Earth in Flower: An Historical and Descriptive Study of the Classical Dance Drama of Cambodia. University Microfilms International, 1987. Pages 145 Ok further contends, along with historian Trudy Jacobsen, the claims were an effort at "political erasure" of his niece and predecessor, the unpopular Vietnamese-installed Queen Ang Mey). Mey also wouldn't relinquish her crown for Duong who aimed to cast her as an "ineffectual ruler” and ”lesson” about women's power. Duong pursued the "old teachers" to rid the dances of "unsuitable" elements inserted over time which could include any Vietnamese influence. The king, who studied the conservative Dhammayuttika branch of Buddhism in Bangkok, implemented modest costumes of heavy fabrics for form-fitting tops and a restrictive sampot, as opposed to the loose sampot worn by dancers until his changes, which mirror his interest in the Chbab Srey ("woman's law") poem he likely authored. In the 1850s, French missionary Charles-Émile Bouillevaux described in Ang Duong's palace a "great deal of music and theatre; I have caught a glimpse sometimes, much in spite of myself, of his concubines who simulate battles between the ancient heroes of India.”Cravath, Paul. Earth in Flower: An Historical and Descriptive Study of the Classical Dance Drama of Cambodia. University Microfilms International, 1987. Pages 148 A girl named Nuon was presented to Duong's court to learn ballet and eventually became the "star ballerina." She became a "consort" of the king and rose to second rank as Khun Cham Soda Duong ("Eminent Munificient Sweet Lady"). Lakhon Khol plays were codified during Ang Duong's reign based on the Reamker depicted in 12th century bas-reliefs in Angkor Wat.
During the reigns of Ang Duong, Norodom, and Sisowath, dances were based on the Reamker, Khmer melodramas, and folk legends. In a process of cultural exchange, some dances from this period were based on Khmer adaptations of popular Siamese works such as Inao, Phra Aphai Mani, and Krai Thong.
French colonial era
Cambodia became a French protectorate in 1863. Since then, dancers began performing for foreign dignitaries and for the public on the monarch's birthday. Dance was thereby, promoted as national identity.
King Norodom was crowned in 1864. The exact number of King Norodom's palace dancers remains unknown because foreign nationals were barred from the palace's private compound where all the women resided. Some suggestions ranged from 400 to 800. French representative Jean Moura estimated 2,000 palace "servants, including dancers," while French curator and author George Groslier's figure was 500 dancers split into three troupes, including male dancers.