Phnom Penh (AFP)
Back arched, hands curved, two dancers perform a sweet choreography on a small scene in a chiaroscuro: the troupe, the first gay dance company in Cambodia, revolutionizes the age-old art of Apsara usually reserved for women .
A slender figure appears, dressed in silk clothes, covered with gold ornaments and bracelets. She performs a series of gracious movements that once fascinated the kings of Angkor.
This Cambodian classical dance, which dates back to the seventh century, was traditionally reserved for the monarch and his court. At the famous temple of Angkor Wat alone, nearly two thousand dancers from Apsara are represented.
But the Prumsodun Ok & Natyarasa troupe, made up of seven young men, is shaking up the tradition.
The dancers slide on stage, shirtless, on a soul song by the British Sam Smith and other contemporary pieces.
The dance company has sometimes been criticized, with some accusing it of flouting this age-old custom.
"Once they saw the quality of the dance and the choreography", they understood that there were new possibilities for this form of art, tells AFP Prumsodun Ok, founder of the troupe.
"Some people say that LGBTQ people (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transsexual, intersex and queer) are born abnormal (...) Our goal is to use art to change attitudes," says the dancer Chan Sory.
Cambodia does not criminalize homosexual relations. But the community is still a victim of discrimination and prejudices remain stubborn, amalgamations between homosexuals, sex industry and drug consumption still being common in the kingdom.
"My goal is to create a more dignified and realistic image of what it means to be an LGBTQ" in Cambodia today, says Prumsodun Ok, 32.
The choreographer was born in California to Cambodian parents. They fled the Khmer Rouge regime, which killed some two million people between 1975 and 1979.
In 2015, Prumsodun left the United States and left for Phnom Penh where he decided to settle because the young homosexuals needed a "model".
Since then, his company has been recognized in the country, having even been invited to perform at the Ministry of Culture.
© 2019 AFP