For three nights only (May 2—4), BAM and Season of * present the Royal Ballet of Cambodia, a highlight of the citywide Season of Cambodia festival

The Legend of Mera—a US premiere with choreography by Her Royal Highness Princess Norodom Buppha Devi—draws upon myths that evoke Cambodia’s spirit, culture, and identity

The Legend of Apsara Mera The Royal Ballet of Cambodia Choreographed by HER ROYAL HIGHNESS PRINCESS NORODOM BUPPHA DEVI

*Season of Cambodia is an initiative of Cambodian Living Arts

BAM Howard Gilman Opera House (30 Lafayette Ave) May 2—4 at 7:30pm Tickets start at $20

Artist Talk: Her Royal Highness Princess Norodom Buppha Devi in conversation with Peter Sellars Apr 30 at 6:30pm Free Bruno Walter Auditorium New York Public Library for the Performing Arts (40 Lincoln Center Plaza)

Post-show Artist Talk: HRH Princess Buppha Devi and members of the Royal Ballet of Cambodia moderated by Marina Harss May 3 (free for same-day ticket holders)

Master Class: Royal Ballet of Cambodia May 4 at 1:30pm Mark Morris Dance Center (3 Lafayette Ave) Fee: $15 (for reservations visit MMDG.org/school)

March 26, 2013/Brooklyn, NY—The Royal Ballet of Cambodia’s dance-drama The Legend of Apsara Mera is a highlight of Season of Cambodia, a citywide living arts festival presenting more than 125 of the country’s leading performing artists, visual artists, filmmakers, and scholars. Choreographed by Her Royal Highness Princess Norodom Buppha Devi, it tells the mythical tale of Cambodia’s founding, drawing on episodes from the epic poem , the Khmer version of the Sanskrit . The piece also serves as a showcase for the mesmerizing , the most sacred expression of Khmer classical dance. Recreated in modern times by HRH Princess Buppha Devi’s grandmother, Her Majesty the Queen Sisowath Kossamak Nearyrath Sereivaddhana, it was first performed in 1964 at the Opéra Garnier during King ’s state visit to . HRH Princess Buppha Devi performed the main role for an audience that included General Charles de Gaulle, president of the French Republic. The BAM engagement of The Legend of Apsara Mera features more than 20 dancers as well as singers and an on-stage Cambodian pin peat instrumental ensemble.

In 2003, the Royal Ballet of Cambodia was proclaimed by UNESCO a “Masterpiece of Oral and Intangible Heritage of Humanity,” a designation the Princess campaigned to secure. This recognition was also the result of the efforts of Cambodia’s surviving artists to recover, document, and celebrate Cambodia’s artistic traditions in the post- period.

For press information contact Adriana Leshko, [email protected], 718.724.8021

The Legend of Apsara Mera story

The Legend of Apsara Mera fuses two origin stories integral to Khmer culture: “Churning of the Sea of Milk” and “The Legend of Kambu and Mera.” The story unfolds during a time when gods (Devas) and demons () were in a perpetual fight for control of the world—both being of equal force, neither camp succeeded in gaining the victory. Vishnu, the guardian god of the universe, proposed that the two parties join forces to churn the sea of milk and extract amrita: the invaluable nectar of immortality. At the end of a thousand years various treasures started to emerge from the foam, including the celestial nymphs known as , beautiful and gracious goddesses who diverted the gods with their songs and dances. The Queen of the Apsaras was reincarnated on earth as Princess Mera, daughter of the King of the Nagas, serpents who reigned on the ocean floor. The legend goes that from the union of Princess Mera and Prince Kambu Kambuja (born of Kambu, or Cambodia), was created.

About the artists

Her Royal Highness Princess Norodom Buppha Devi was born on January 8, 1943, the daughter of His Royal Majesty King Norodom Sihanouk, King of Cambodia, and Néak Phat Kanhol. HRH Princess Buppha Devi began her studies at the age of six at the Sothearos Primary School and began her classical dance training at the school of dance of the Royal Palace at the same time. The Princess gave her first professional performance at the age of eight in honor of the King of Laos. She was recognized immediately as a distinguished artist and performed until 1970, at which point, due to political upheavals in her homeland, she moved with her father to . As a dancer, the Princess performed for distinguished dignitaries from France, China, the United States, Indonesia, Korea, Burma, the former Soviet Union, and many others.

In the late 1980s and early 1990s, the Princess trained young dancers on the Cambodian/Thai border. Following the Paris Conference of 1991, she returned to Cambodia with her father King Sihanouk and continued to work in the cultural domain. Following the elections of 1993, the King and the Royal Government of Cambodia appointed the Princess to be an advisor in charge of the fine arts and classical court dance in particular. From 1999 to 2004, HRH Princess Buppha Devi served as Cambodia’s Minister of Culture and Fine Arts. The Princess continues to choreograph, adding works to the classical repertory of the Royal Ballet. She has been instrumental in nurturing a new generation of gifted artists in close collaboration with colleagues who survived the tumultuous period of the Khmer Rouge. The Royal Ballet that tours internationally today does so under her vigilant leadership and guidance. Recently, the royal government of Cambodia nominated HRH Princess Buppha Devi as a Living National Heritage. The Royal Ballet of Cambodia is a potent living legacy of Cambodia’s rich centuries-old history, with ties to the present-day Kingdom of Cambodia’s Ministry of Fine Arts and the Royal University of Fine Arts. The first tour of Cambodian classical dance to the United States in 1971 was an extensive three- month tour of 45 artists which included a performance that was part of the inauguration of the Kennedy Center in Washington, DC, with President Richard Nixon in attendance. The Republic of Cambodia, as it was known at the time, would not allow any members of the royal family to join the tour; HRH Princess Buppha Devi and the Queen Mother only offered suggestions in forming the troupe.

The first tour of Cambodian classical dance to the US after the fall of the Khmer Rouge took place in 1990. More than 30 dancers and musicians performed as part of the Los Angeles Festival at the Joyce Theater in New York and in other US cities. Master dancers and teachers who had survived the Khmer Rouge period and its aftermath, together with a new generation of dancers they mentored, reconstructed and performed classical dance repertory on the international stage for the first time in more than two decades.

About Season of Cambodia

New York City hosts more than 125 artists from Cambodia for a major celebration of Cambodian arts, culture, and humanities when Season of Cambodia lights up the city’s cultural landscape in April and May 2013. Distinctive works by master and emerging artists and scholars—in ritual, music, visual arts, performance, dance, shadow puppetry, film, and academic forums—will be presented by 30 of New York’s most renowned arts and educational institutions, marking an unprecedented city-wide partnership celebrating one of the world’s most vibrant and evocative cultures.

The festival emphasizes Cambodia’s artistic revival just a generation after the Khmer Rouge regime (1975—1979), a dark period in Cambodia’s history during which nearly 90 percent of the artists and intellectuals were tragically eliminated in an effort to devastate a flourishing artistic community. Season of Cambodia serves as an international platform that not only highlights the extraordinary resilience of the Cambodian nation and its artists, but also sets the stage for other post-conflict nations seeking renewal through artistic expression.

Season of Cambodia is an initiative of Cambodian Living Arts, a non-profit organization based in and the US founded in 1998 by artist and Khmer Rouge survivor Arn Chorn-Pond. Once focused on the critical task of preserving endangered artists and traditional art forms in the country, Cambodian Living Arts today collaborates with Cambodian artists and organizations, serving as a catalyst to help develop and foster arts in Cambodia. For more information, visit seasonofcambodia.org.

Credits

Bloomberg is the BAM 2013 Winter/Spring Season sponsor

Leadership support provided by The Jerome Robbins Foundation, Inc.

Additional support provided by Anne H. Bass

Programming in the BAM Howard Gilman Opera House is supported and endowed by The Howard Gilman Foundation

Major support for dance at BAM provided by The Harkness Foundation for Dance; and The SHS Foundation

BAM Winter/Spring 2013 supporters: Bank of America; The Irene Diamond Fund; Doris Duke Foundation for Islamic Art; The Florence Gould Foundation; The Leona M. & Harry B. Helmsley Charitable Trust; The Jaharis Family Foundation; The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation; Mikhail Prokhorov Fund; Stavros Niarchos Foundation; The Fan Fox & Leslie R. Samuels Foundation, Inc.; The Peter Jay Sharp Foundation; The SHS Foundation; The Shubert Foundation, Inc.; The Skirball Foundation; The Starr Foundation; Time Warner Inc.; The Winston Foundation, Inc.

Pepsi is the official beverage of BAM. Sovereign Bank is the BAM Marquee sponsor. Yamaha is the official piano for BAM. R/GA is the BAM.org sponsor. New York Marriott at the Brooklyn Bridge is the official hotel for BAM.

Your tax dollars make BAM programs possible through funding from the City of New York Department of Cultural Affairs and the New York State Council on the Arts. The BAM facilities are owned by the City of New York and benefit from public funds provided through the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs with support from Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg; Cultural Affairs Commissioner Kate D. Levin; the New York City Council including Council Speaker Christine C. Quinn, Finance Committee Chair Domenic M. Recchia Jr., Cultural Affairs Committee Chair Jimmy Van Bramer, the Brooklyn Delegation of the Council, and Councilwoman Letitia James; and Brooklyn Borough President Marty Markowitz.

BAM would like to thank the Brooklyn Delegations of the New York State Assembly, Joseph R. Lentol, Delegation Leader; and New York Senate, Senator Velmanette Montgomery, Delegation Leader.

Leadership support for The Royal Ballet of Cambodia is provided by Anne H. Bass, Co-Chair of Season of Cambodia. Additional lead support for Season of Cambodia comes from the Ford Foundation, The Rockefeller Foundaion, Robert Sterling Clark Foundation, Rockefeller Brothers Fund, and The Kaplen Foundation.

Season of Cambodia is co-chaired by Anne H. Bass, John Burt, and Darren Walker. Lead support comes from Anne H. Bass, John Burt, Ford Foundation, Robert Sterling Clark Foundation, The Rockefeller Foundation. Additional institutional support is provided by Asian Cultural Council, Bloomberg Philanthropies, EVA Air, Fresh Sound Foundation, The Kaplen Foundation, Openbox Inc., The Pollock-Krasner Foundation, Rockefeller Brothers Fund, The Shelley and Donald Rubin Foundation, and U.S. Embassy Phnom Penh.

Leadership support for the Season of Cambodia Dance program is provided by Anne H. Bass and Openbox Inc.

Season of Cambodia is a sponsored project of New York Foundation for the Arts.

General Information

BAM Howard Gilman Opera House, BAM Rose Cinemas, and BAMcafé are located in the Peter Jay Sharp building at 30 Lafayette Avenue (between St Felix Street and Ashland Place) in the Fort Greene neighborhood of Brooklyn. BAM Harvey Theater is located two blocks from the main building at 651 Fulton Street (between Ashland and Rockwell Places). Both locations house Greenlight Bookstore at BAM kiosks. BAM Fisher, located at 321 Ashland Place, is the newest addition to the BAM campus and houses the Judith and Alan Fishman Space and Rita K. Hillman Studio. BAM Rose Cinemas is Brooklyn’s only movie house dedicated to first-run independent and foreign film and repertory programming. BAMcafé, operated by Great Performances, is open for dining prior to BAM Howard Gilman Opera House evening performances. BAMcafé also features an eclectic mix of spoken word and live music for BAMcafé Live on Friday and Saturday nights with a special BAMcafé Live menu available starting at 6pm.

Subway: 2, 3, 4, 5, Q, B to Atlantic Avenue – Barclays Center (2, 3, 4, 5 to Nevins St for Harvey Theater) D, N, R to Pacific Street; G to Fulton Street; C to Lafayette Avenue

Train: Long Island Railroad to Atlantic Terminal – Barclays Center

Bus: B25, B26, B41, B45, B52, B63, B67 all stop within three blocks of BAM Car: Commercial parking lots are located adjacent to BAM

For ticket and BAMbus information, call BAM Ticket Services at 718.636.4100, or visit BAM.org.

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