Seminar: The Apsara Transdisciplinary Research Club
"The Apsara Trans-disciplinary Research Club" wishes to provide young researchers, artists and any other interested person, with the opportunity to discover new methodologies and approaches of work and research. Laying on the history of the formation of the Apsara dance, Bétonsalon - Center for Art and Research’s aim is to propose a trans-disciplinary seminar, bringing scientific disciplines, humanities, art history and contemporary art together, thus allowing to cross perspectives so as to experiment with alternative forms of creation and knowledge.
"The Apsara Trans-disciplinary Research Club" offers a reflexive approach by encouraging each of the participants to call into question the modalities of his or her own field of research, through the prism of the Apsara dance and its history.
About the Apsara Dance
The Apsara Dance is among the most famous one in Cambodia. It has been named after an eponymous mythical persona, the celestial Apsara, a feminine entity which originated from Hinduism. The dance Apsara is often perceived as deeply rooted in Cambodian culture. Yet, the Apsara dance happens to be a modern creation resulting from the fusion of different dances that had stemmed from different places in South-East Asia, and notably Thailand. What’s more, the gestures of the dancers have been borrowed from the low-reliefs carving that adorn the temples in Angkor. The current version of the choreography of the Apsara dance has been invented in 1963, for Marcel Camus long feature L’oiseau de Paradis (Bird of Paradise) in which the princess Bophadevi dances Apsara. Three years later, Prince Noronum Sihanouk directed Aspara, the film which validated the dance as a national symbol of Cambodia.
Despite the political disruption that Cambodia had known, the Apsara dance is still in use today. One of its many variations may also be seen performed at one of Phnom Penh drag-queens Club, ‘The Classic Night’.
PROGRAM
PAST EVENTS
Wednesday September 21, from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m.
With Vera Mey, co-curator of the exhibition Anywhere But Here.
- Shu Tit Sing, photograph taken during his 1963 trip to Angkor, bas-reliefs with Apsaras. All rights reserved.
The first edition of the Apsara Transdisciplinary Research Club will look at the circulation of the figure of the Apsara and how she is circulated in wider parts of Southeast Asia and through Cambodia diaspora. The discussion will start with the Ten Men Group operative between the 1960s - 1970s and how she appeared within certain artists works from the group. The discussion will then progress to the presence of the Apsara in film clips and tourist advertising and look at the ways she is in circulation today.
Vera Mey (born in 1987 in Wellington, New Zealand) is an independent curator based in London. She was part of the founding team of the NTU Centre for Contemporary Art Singapore led by Ute Meta Bauer from 2013. For 2015-2016 she is guest curator at Sa Sa Bassac and Bétobsalon –Center for Art adn Research, grantee of SOAS, University of London and Getty Foundation as part of Ambitious Alignments: New Histories of Southeast Asian Art.
- Session 1 of the seminar "The Apsara Transdisciplinary Research Club" with Vera Mey, in parallel to the exhibition Anywhere But Here, Bétonsalon - Center for Art and Research, Paris, 2016.
- Session 1 of the seminar "The Apsara Transdisciplinary Research Club" with Vera Mey, in parallel to the exhibition Anywhere But Here, Bétonsalon - Center for Art and Research, Paris, 2016.
- Session 1 of the seminar "The Apsara Transdisciplinary Research Club" with Vera Mey, in parallel to the exhibition Anywhere But Here, Bétonsalon - Center for Art and Research, Paris, 2016.
Wednesday September 28, from 6 p.m. to 8p.m.
With Suppya Nut, Lecturer on the South-East Asia History at the Paris-Diderot University. She will address the history and formation of the Apsara dance.
- Shu Tit Sing, photograph taken during his 1963 trip to Angkor, bas-reliefs with Apsaras. All rights reserved.
Suppya Hélène Nut is a specialist of the Royal Ballet of Cambodia. She works in collaboration with the princess Norodom Buppha Devi, master of dance and choreography for the troupe of the Royal Ballet. She has been at the direction of the Khmer Dance Project on the behalf of the public library of New-York, for which she has realised 61 videos on dance in Cambodia (interviews of artists, captures of dances representation). She teaches the Cambodian literature and the performing arts of South-East Asia at the National Institute for Oriental Languages and Civilisations while pursuing her research on the Royal Ballet and gender in Cambodia.
- Session 2 of the seminar "The Apsara Transdisciplinary Research Club" with Suppya Hélène Nut , in the framework of the exhibition Anywhere But Here, Bétonsalon - Center for Art and Research, Paris, 2016.
- Session 2 of the seminar "The Apsara Transdisciplinary Research Club" with Suppya Hélène Nut , in the framework of the exhibition Anywhere But Here, Bétonsalon - Center for Art and Research, Paris, 2016.
- Session 2 of the seminar "The Apsara Transdisciplinary Research Club" with Suppya Hélène Nut, in the framework of the exhibition Anywhere But Here, Bétonsalon - Center for Art and Research, Paris, 2016.
Wednesday October 5, from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m.
With Jean-Pierre Couty, associate professor at Paris-Diderot University, Cochin Institute.
- Cancerous cells, all rights reserved.
Jean-Pierre Couty is immunologist, specialised in the study of the liver cancer. He is interested in deciphering the dialogue which lays at the basis of the relation between cancerous cells and those of the immune system. As a source of inspiration, part of his work is organised in way which he assumes draws similarities with street theatre, which hence could be compared to the mysteriousness of the Apsara dance. Jean-Pierre Couty simply proposes that the movement and deformation of cells (be they immune, vascular or cancerous) be further explored through the development of cancer and its evolution through time.
- Session 3 of the seminar "The Apsara Transdisciplinary Research Club" with Jean-Pierre Couty, in the framework of the exhibition Anywhere But Here, Bétonsalon - Center for Art and Research, Paris, 2016.
- Session 3 of the seminar "The Apsara Transdisciplinary Research Club" with Jean-Pierre Couty, in the framework of the exhibition Anywhere But Here, Bétonsalon - Center for Art and Research, Paris, 2016.
- Session 3 of the seminar "The Apsara Transdisciplinary Research Club" with Jean-Pierre Couty, in the framework of the exhibition Anywhere But Here, Bétonsalon - Center for Art and Research, Paris, 2016.
Wednesday October 12, from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m
With Hélène Marquié, Lecturer at the centre for Feminine studies, Paris VIII, will talk about the intersection between gender and dance.
- Anonymous, Louis XIV dressed as Apollo in the Ballet of the Night, 1653, detail. All rights reserved.
During this talk, Hélène Marquié will present a part of her research localized at the intersection between dance studies and gender studies. At first she will address the way in which the perspective of the gender enlighten the anthropology of dance, what it allows us to understand about the history of the ballet in France, while establishing parallels or divergences with the khmer ballet. Finally she will focus on the different questions raised by the representations of gender and of its stereotypes.
Hélène Marquié is lecturer in gender studies at the Paris 8 University. She is a member of the LEGS (Laboratoire d’études de genre et de sexualité / Laboratory for the studies of gender and sexuality). She is also an associate professor in biology and geology. Dancer and choreographer of contemporary dance, her research is localized at the crossing between dance studies and gender studies: she addresses the history construction and representation of gender within the history of dance. She has recently published a book entitled Non, la danse n’est pas un truc de fille – Essai sur le genre en danse (or No, dance is not some girls’ stuff – Essay on gender within the field of dance, Toulouse, Éditions de l’Attribut, 2016 ).She is a member the Policy, of the Scientific and of the Management Boards of the Emilie du Châtelet Institute. For many years she has been participating in the research workshop entitled “Dance as an anthropological object”, organized by CNRS/Paris 1/EPHE/Université Blaise Pascal-Clermont-Ferrand 2 / Université de Nanterre Paris Ouest.
- Session 4 of the seminar "The Apsara Transdisciplinary Research Club" with Hélène Marquié, in the framework of the exhibition Anywhere But Here, Bétonsalon - Center for Art and Research, Paris, 2016.
- Session 4 of the seminar "The Apsara Transdisciplinary Research Club" with Hélène Marquié, in the framework of the exhibition Anywhere But Here, Bétonsalon - Center for Art and Research, Paris, 2016.
- Session 4 of the seminar "The Apsara Transdisciplinary Research Club" with Hélène Marquié, in the framework of the exhibition Anywhere But Here, Bétonsalon - Center for Art and Research, Paris, 2016.
Wednesday October 19, from 6 p.m. to 8p.m.
Seminar: The Apsara Transdisciplinary Research Club, session 5 with the Ballet Classique Khmer (BCK) of Paris.
- Postcard from Cambodia, representing Apsara dancers. All rights reserved.
The association le Ballet Classique Khmer (BCK), or ‘Classical Khmer Ballet’ of Paris aims at preserving, transmitting, and making the millennial art of classical Cambodian dance known.
Funded in 1976 by SAR, the Princess Vacheahra Norodom and by dancers from the Royal Ballet from Phnom Penh, the association, thanks to the many performances made across France and the world, participated in the recognition of this art, which has been registered as part of the global immaterial heritage by the UNESCO. The teaching of the dance is provided by masters of renown, on a weekly basis.
The ballet is composed of Cambodian, French with Cambodian origins or French men and women of all ages. Several children of the first generation of Cambodian refugees who sought shelter in France found, through this association, a way to connect with their cultural roots.
- Session 5 of the seminar "The Apsara Transdisciplinary Research Club" with the Ballet Classique Khmer (BCK), in parallel to the exhibition Anywhere But Here, Bétonsalon - Center for Art and Research, Paris, 2016.
- Session 5 of the seminar "The Apsara Transdisciplinary Research Club" with the Ballet Classique Khmer (BCK), in parallel to the exhibition Anywhere But Here, Bétonsalon - Center for Art and Research, Paris, 2016.
- Session 5 of the seminar "The Apsara Transdisciplinary Research Club" with the Ballet Classique Khmer (BCK), in parallel to the exhibition Anywhere But Here, Bétonsalon - Center for Art and Research, Paris, 2016.
Wednesday October 26, from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m.
With Michael Falser, historian of architecture at the Heidelberg University : "Reenacting the Royal Khmer Ballet : 1890-2015"
- Edge of the pit of the temples of Angkor Vat in the region of Siem Reap, © Les Archives de la Planète, autochrome 1918-1921.
It is a commonplace that cultural heritage is not only a highly contested concept of
modern times, full of nationalistic undertones, cultural stereotypes and essentialist
topoi such as past grandeur and enduring cultural purity. Cultural heritage has also
become the easiest and most profitable prey for today’s global tourism industry. These
observations apply with particularly dramatic consequences to young emerging,
postcolonial nation states with a rich repertoire of built (tangible) and performed
(intangible) culture – especially if elements of this repertoire are branded ‘UNESCO
World Heritage’ without considering their contested formation histories. Few other iconic
heritage sites are more instructive in showcasing these observations than the temple
site of Angkor, by charting the transcultural trajectories of Cambodia’s heritage
construction through the processes of French colonial reinvention, postcolonial/nationalist
essentialisation, and global commodification. This presentation focuses on the ‘Royal
Khmer Ballet’ as cultural performance and heritage re-enactment in combination with
the twelfth-century temple of Angkor Wat as architectural stage.
Michael Falser is an Austrian architect and art historian. Currently he his project leader at the Chair of Global Art History within the Cluster of Excellence "Asia and Europe in a Global Context. The Dynamics of Transculturality" at Heidelberg University. With his long-standing research in the transcultural heritage formation of Angkor between the French-colonial period, independent Cambodia and today’s UNESCO World Heritage regime, he published on the art and architectural history and cultural heritage formations in a global context. His monograph "Angkor Wat. From Jungle Find to Global Icon. A Transcultural History of Heritage" will be published with DeGruyter in 2017.
Saturday November 5, from 3 p.m. to 6 p.m.
For this concluding session of the seminar “The Apsara Transdisciplinary research Club”, we will receive Julie Burbage, clinical psychologist, who will address the theme of the dance, or rather of body in motions as a support for therapeutical practices. Dancers from the Ballet Classique Khmer (BCK association will join her so as to initiate the participants to the complex and diverse gestures of the Apsara dance.
- "Love Duet", all rights reserved.
From one body to another. Danced movement, or an occasion of transformation.
In this presentation, we will work with the observations resulting from a workshop implemented in a service for adult psychiatry, and particularly addressing psychotic patients. Then we will initiate a reflection on the ways danced movements can either provide an opportunity to create a new relation to the body for certain patients, or, for others, it can allow them to draw their own corporal outlines when those are hardly draft through experimenting with sensations. The psychoanalytical approach to the body will allow us to enlighten some of the sensorial et psychic issues which are at core of these transformations.
Julie Burbarge is a clinical psychologist at the Nursing Home of Epinay and at the accommodation and social rehabilitation center of the Poterne des Peupliers.
Holder of a jazz dance choreography certificate, she frequently offers therapeutical workshops based on danced movements.
Currently pursuing a PhD at the Paris VII University, her research focuses on the implication of somatism upon delirium within the frame of psychosis.
The association Le Ballet Classique Khmer (BCK), or ‘Classical Khmer Ballet’ of Paris aims at preserving, transmitting, and making the millennial art of classical Cambodian dance known.
Funded in 1976 by SAR, the Princess Vacheahra Norodom and by dancers from the Royal Ballet from Phnom Penh, the association, thanks to the many performances made across France and the world, participated in the recognition of this art, which has been registered as part of the global immaterial heritage by the UNESCO. The teaching of the dance is provided by masters of renown, on a weekly basis.
The ballet is composed of Cambodian, French with Cambodian origins or French men and women of all ages. Several children of the first generation of Cambodian refugees who sought shelter in France found, through this association, a way to connect with their cultural roots.
- Session 7 of the seminar "The Apsara Transdisciplinary Research Club" with Julie Burbage and the Ballet Classique Khmer (BCK), in parallel to the exhibition Anywhere But Here, Bétonsalon - Center for Art and Research, Paris, 2016.
- Session 7 of the seminar "The Apsara Transdisciplinary Research Club" with Julie Burbage and the Ballet Classique Khmer (BCK), in parallel to the exhibition Anywhere But Here, Bétonsalon - Center for Art and Research, Paris, 2016.
- Session 7 of the seminar "The Apsara Transdisciplinary Research Club" with Julie Burbage and the Ballet Classique Khmer (BCK), in parallel to the exhibition Anywhere But Here, Bétonsalon - Center for Art and Research, Paris, 2016.
The Académie vivante is supported by the Fondation Daniel et Nina Carasso.
- Initiation à la danse Apsara avec le Ballet Classique Khmer à Bétonsalon - Centre d’art et de recherche
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