When I was a Junior undergrad at UMass Lowell I had a few open electives I had to fill, one being a history course. Since I was studying Philosophy and Communications I was able to pick from any history course the school offered so rather than taking another American or European history class I decided to take Genocide in Cambodia. In case you didn’t know, Lowell, Massachusetts has one of the highest concentrations of Cambodians in the world next to Cambodia and Long Beach. I loved the class and professor so much I actually took 2 semesters of Khmer (the language of Cambodia) my senior year to fill some left over humanities electives. Chumriep Sua! Sok sbye cheauh tay?
Part of the course was studying Cambodian culture, most of which was nearly destroyed during the reign of Pol Pot & the Khmer Rouge, including dance. Lowell has an amazing Cambodian dance company called the Angkor Dance Troupe and I was lucky enough to see them when I lived there. Take a look at the beautiful costumes these dancers are wearing; every piece of clothing, body position and hand gesture has a deep, cultural meaning. Take a minute and check out www.angkordance.org. My Khmer might be a little rusty, but I’ll leave you with this: Som owee knyom chake muy snet! You just might win a free tee if you can tell me what that means.
-Lori
