Earth in Flower: The Divine Mystery of the Cambodian Dance Drama

ISBN-10: 1934431281
ISBN-13: 9781934431283
Category: Performing Arts / General
Pages: 514
Language: English
Published: 2007
Publisher: DatAsia
Author: Paul Cravath

Description

THE CAMBODIAN DANCE DRAMA Since the dawn of recorded history, Khmer royal families nurtured a dance style unique to their Asian kingdom. Spiritually, these graceful dancers embody the essence of the Khmer race, ritualistically effecting the mystical regeneration of their land. For more than a thousand years they ensured fertility, life and growth; the dancers truly were and always will be the realization of Cambodia's earth in flower.A POLITICAL TWIST OF FATE In 1970, a military coup deposed King Sihanouk; the state seized full responsibility for the ancient royal dance tradition. Even surrounded by war, and in the midst of a civil war, the newly formed Khmer Republic desperately sought to preserve this cultural treasure. In 1974, their Ministry of Culture engaged University of Hawaii researcher Paul Cravath to document the esoteric history of the Royal Cambodian Ballet.EXTRAORDINARY ACCESS Cravath arrived in Phnom Penh as an ever-tightening circle of war gripped the capital city. He became one of the only Westerners in history to gain access to archives, teachers and the royal dancers themselves. In earlier times, this privilege was unthinkable; the dancers were the king's personal property. Contact by anyone outside the royal household was forbidden, under penalty of death.LOST HISTORY REVEALED In April 1975 Phnom Penh fell to the Khmer Rouge, initiating one of the worst genocides in human history. Cravath, one of the last Westerners to leave, escaped with his research intact. After 10 years of preparation, he submitted his study as his doctoral thesis in 1985. Only a handful of scholars saw the document. More than two decades later, at the dawn of the Khmer Renaissance, this historic knowledge is available to the public for the first time as Earth in Flower.

Get the book

Similar books

Body Trauma TV: The New Hospital Dramas
By Jason Jacobs, Lecturer in Film and Television Studies Jason Jacobs
A very early example of this is the US single play ' The Hospital where a disturbed porter disrupts the power supply to the hospital . It was a CBS / Studio One production broadcast Doctor : Television , Storytelling and Medical Power ( ...
威尼斯商人
By （英）威廉·莎士比亚, 朱生豪（译）
莎士比亚在喜剧方面取得了很高的成就。乐观主义是莎士比亚的喜剧创作的基调。在他的喜剧中，蕴含着人文主义者的美好理想，以及对人类光明前途的展望。本书收选朱生豪先生翻 ...
The Great Science Fiction Pictures II
By James Robert Parish, Michael R. Pitts
Peter Weller ( Murphy the Robocop ) ; Nancy Allen ( Lewis ) ; Ronny Cox ( Jones ) ; Kurtwood Smith ( Clarence ) ; Miguel Ferrer ( Morton ) ; Robert DoQui ( Sergeant Reed ) ; Daniel O'Herlihy ( Old Man ) ...
Once Upon a Time in China: A Guide to Hong Kong, Taiwanese, and Mainland Chinese Cinema
By Jeff Yang
Armour of God ( 1986 ; Hong Kong , Ac , Cm ) D : Jackie Chan C : Jackie Chan , Alan Tam , Rosamund Kwan , Lola Forner , Bozidar Smiljanic In this flamboyant actioner - clearly inspired by Raiders of the Lost Ark - Chan plays Asian Hawk ...
The Hill and Beyond: Children's Television Drama - An Encyclopedia
By Mark J. Docherty, Alistair D. McGown
... Mike Smith ( 6-8 ) , Catherine Millar ( 10 , 11 , 14 , 16 , 17 ) Tie - in publications : The New Adventures of Black Beauty 1 : Beauty's Story and The New Adventures of Black Beauty 2 : A Home at Last by Jonathan Dowling ( first UK ...
Teen Movies: American Youth on Screen
By Timothy Shary
... WOMAN INTO CINEMA Janet McCabe MELODRAMA : GENRE , STYLE , SENSIBILITY John Mercer and Martin Shingler FILM PERFORMANCE : FROM ACHIEVEMENT TO APPRECIATION Andrew Klevan NEW DIGITAL CINEMA : REINVENTING THE MOVING IMAGE Holly Willis ...
Fashioning Film Stars: Dress, Culture, Identity
By Rachel Moseley
Lee's criticisms tap into widely documented histories of black representation within American popular cinema , which have seen white film - makers present black people in ways that are clearly derogatory and two - dimensional .
A Biographical Handbook of Hispanics and United States Film
By Gary D. Keller
... II , 93 Kolb , Keith , I , 198 Korda , Alexander , II , 69 Kosloff , Theodore , I , 76 ; II , 76 Kotero , Apollonia , II , 93 Kramer , Stanley , I , 128 , 136 , 187 ; II , 161 Krantz , Jacob , see Cortez , Ricardo Kristofferson ...
Television Sitcom
By Brett Mills
Baker , M. , ' Transatlantic Transplants ' , Broadcast , 19 January 1996 , pp . 24-5 . Bakhtin , Mikhail , Rabelais and his World ( Bloomington : Indiana University Press ... Bathrick , Serafina , ' The Mary Tyler Moore Show Bibliography.
More Than A Movie: Ethics In Entertainment
By Les Brown, Laurie Trotta
The essays in More Than a Movie are interspersed with stories of actual ethical dilemmas told by noted screenwriters, directors and other practitioners in interviews by Manhattan writer Laura Blum.