my thoughts on the cambodian dance performance.
The first thing that was quite different for me was the language itself. I have been exposed to many different Asian languages. Although I do not speak any foreign language fluently myself, I can easily distinguish between Korean, Japanese and Chinese. Even in Chinese, I can tell which dialect a person is speaking (without understanding a word), Cantonese, Mandarin, Taiwanese, Wenzhounese, Fuzhounese, just to name a few. It was difficult to sit through the show because I don’t think I’ve ever heard the Cambodian language before; I could not even distinguish between the words so it was definitely new exposure for me.
I love how distinct the dance was, as well as their dress. It was so elaborate and beautiful. And the dance is definitely not what I am used to. I once took a dance class in a Chinese school that was supposed to be some form of ballet. The teacher had us tiptoeing around but when I tried to balance really on the tip of my toes, she explained that that was not what we were doing. I thought it odd because what she was asking us to do wasn’t very challenging and I didn’t consider it ballet. Or dance. When I saw the show that night, I realized that even something as simple as tiptoeing around as opposed to just walking around, made a difference. And although the movements they did may seem as simple as some people think yoga is but, if you haven’t done yoga before, you should. I believe that by the end of the session, you’ll be drenched in sweat. I loved the flowing motion of the dancers and the music. And the way they really conveyed emotion. When the subtitles say they “embraced”, they may not have even physically touched, but we get the idea of an embrace from their body language.
The other artist whose gallery we visited however, used more in your face techniques which I guess people would consider to be more modern. Either way, they were very effective and spoke a lot to the audience, I felt. Taking the trip to the met, really made me see how important it is that history is preserved.
My friends and I took a trip to the museum a week prior and we took silly pictures next to the Greek statues and just didn’t think much of the whole thing in general. That however, is the kind of art I prefer. They stressed the human body, portraying it realistically but in a different way; it boasted about the body in a humanistic way where you could admire it whereas I felt the Chinese artist was sort of showing off the flaws in each person as they passed, kind of causing the audience to maybe blush a little, but also giving the message that the body as is, is also beautiful. To me, I think both were expressing different things and at the same time, similar things as well. Both kinds need to be appreciated and passed on.
So back to my point, this second trip was also very beneficial to me. I have an interest in the history of Christianity and so I thought it was cool that Rembrandt also focused his art on portrayal of Jesus and the days when the Christ was alive, which feels like an eternity ago. It shows Christianity through the ages. And it was interesting to see how they produced art, which we still do today, and to see the remains, the very things they worked on. It really pieces history together for me.