| | |  | NORTH AMERICA | Home » » ROYAL BALLET OF CAMBODIA | | | | | | | Product Promotions: | | | | | Description: | | Experience the American Journey through our country's visual heritage in this historical recording provided by the National Archives of the United States.This film documents the work of the Royal Ballet of Cambodia. The first part features the company performing a dance on the legendary origins of Angkor; the second part covers a visit to the School of the Royal Ballet of Cambodia at the Royal Palace in Phnom Penh. Scenes show dance instruction of both boys and girls, a dress rehearsal, costume design, and mask-making. The third part contains footage of the school's graduation ceremonies, including a presentation of novices to Queen Sisowath Kossmak Nearirath, patron of the school, and solo dance by Princess Norodom Buppha Devi. This historical recording from the National Archives may contain variations in audio and video quality based on the limitations of the original source material. The content summary for this DVD is adapted from an historical description provided by the government agency or donor at the time of production release. This product is manufactured on demand using DVD-R recordable media. Amazon.com's standard return policy will apply. | | | Product Details: | | | Format:
| NTSC | | Studio:
| National Archives and Records Administration | | Run Time:
| 103 minutes | | Average Customer Rating:
|  based on 2 reviews |
| | | | Customer Reviews: | |
Average Customer Review:
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 A rare record, wonderful but also a bizarre productionJul 12, 2009
There is precious little available about traditional Cambodian dancing. It is a marvelous art form with a long and complex history that is still being performed today. This dvd is, as far as I know, the only one on this topic on Amazon.com and perhaps anywhere else.
There is no production date on the dvd, but I would guess that it was made the late 1950's or early 1960's. Although filmed in color, much of the footage has faded. There are some wonderful scenes on this DVD and a considerable amount of information on the history and meaning of the dances, the characters in the dance, how the dancers are trained, how the costumes are made and much else. Portions of performances are shown. Especially if you are just learning about this subject, it is great to see the video.
There are a number of odd and distracting aspects to this video as well. The footage is a bit fragmented in how it tells the story, and there are some strange repetitions of entire scenes - the ceremony marking the graduation of the dance students appears in the middle of the main part of the film, but is then repeated at the end.
The most distracting part of the video is the choice of music that accompanies much of the footage. Much of the film is accompanied by 1950's style Hollywood background music, with lush strings and a syrupy mood. This clashes with the content so much that is very distracting. There is traditional Cambodian music in the film, which works very well with the content. But often, the producers will break into the middle of the scene with the Hollywood music - why did they think this was necessary? Who knows?
This video is definitely worth watching. I did enjoy it. One undercurrent of melancholy about the video is the knowledge that many, or even most, of the teachers and dancers shown in the film were killed during the Khmer Rouge era . This effort was systematic and resulted in 90% of the dancers and teachers being killed.
 Incredible: just get it.May 28, 2009
This is great archival footage of Cambodian Classical Dance, including many of the elements that go into the preparation for performance. A rare and wonderful must have for anyone interested in Cambodian arts and culture.
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