From the bloodied ruins of Angor Wat emerge steps of grace

Transmission of the Invisible at the PuSH Festival.
Photograph by: Handout, PuSH

The Vanvouver Sun


By Kevin GriffinJanuary
28, 2009

VANCOUVER - Five years ago, Peter Chin saw something at Angkor Wat he couldn't forget.

At the time, he was in Cambodia on a five-month residency studying classical Khmer dance and music. This style of movement and sound dating back more than 1,000 years that nearly disappeared during the Khmer Rouge genocide in the 1970s.

One day, Chin saw history in the making. He watched as an aged Cambodian dance teacher instructed her student in a classical work that had nearly been lost. Chin looked on and realized that something unique was going on between student and teacher.

Somehow, they had transformed themselves so they could transmit the invisible elements that made Khmer dance essentially Khmer.

"This altered state of transmission must have come to the fore stronger than usual . . . given that there was something of ultimate value at stake," Chin said.

"This heightened state of soul- and spirit-sharing that brings us together, as parts of something larger than ourselves, transcending cultural differences and clashes and bridging ruptures in our history is what I hope Transmission of the Invisible can embrace."

Chin's Transmission of the Invisible is being performed three times during the PuSh Performing Arts Festival starting this evening at 8 p.m. at the Scotiabank Dance Centre.

As artistic director of his company, Tribal Cracking Wind, Chin spent three years creating the 70-minute work. It was developed in association with Yim Savann and Phon Sopheap, two Cambodian classical dancers from Phnom Penh's Amrita Performing Arts.

As well, the work was created with various community partners in Cambodia who were incorporated in the projected video. They included a child psychologist and social worker who helps traumatized children, a community of Buddhist monks, a young man and his younger brother taking care of their dying grandmother and dance teachers instructing younger students.

Given Cambodia's recent fractured history, one of the dominant themes in Transmission of the Invisible is fragmentation - portrayed in abrupt changes in choreography and movement and heard in sudden shifts in the score. It also works its way into the costumes.

"Two gowns are made out of silk organza," he said in a phone interview. "They're distressed or tattered - like the history which has been interrupted and fragmented."

Dance in Cambodia is linked directly to its history.

Built in the 12th century, Angkor Wat was was the centre of the Khmer empire that was the dominant power in the region for about 500 years starting in the 9th century.

Shortly after it was built, Angkor Wat was sacked by the Siamese - the Thais. The Siamese took Khmer dancers to the ancient capital Ayuthaya where it subsequently influenced the development of Thai dancing.

Khmer classical dance has been compared to ballet because of the years of training required. Cambodian dancers are famous for being able to bend their hands back so far they can almost touch their wrists.

UNESCO considers Cambodian classical dance as part of the world's intangible cultural heritage.
Over the years, Khmer classical dancing became associated with the Cambodian royal court.

When the Maoist Khmer Rouge took control of the country in 1975, classical dancing and dancers were seen as symbols of the country's feudal past. An estimated 90 per cent of the dancers and teachers were killed by the Khmer Rouge.

Transmission of the Invisible, however, isn't about the trauma caused by the genocide. It's about what comes after.

"It's about rebuilding - not so much about the trauma but where we go after the trauma," he said.

"I want to focus on the wordless and ineffable, on the kind of energetic emanation that we can't see, but that we communicate to each other at that hard-to-define level."

In addition to the choreography, Chin has designed the costumes and created the music with Garnet Willis. The soundscape includes natural and street sounds recorded in Cambodia.

Born in Kingston, Jamaica, Chin is based in Toronto where he's known not only as a dancer/choreographer, but also as a musician/composer, performance artist and designer.

He is a three-time recipient of the Dora Mavor Moore Awards for outstanding new choreography.

Chin performed in Vancouver two years ago at the Dancing on the Edge Festival. He danced in BODYGlass, a work he co-created with Alvin Erasga Tolentino.

Transmission of the Invisible will be going to Singapore later this year and, if funding can be arranged, to Cambodia.

Transmission of the Invisible is at the Scotiabank Dance Centre tonight to Saturday at 8 p.m. Tickets at www.ticketstonight.ca or 604-684-2787. kevingriffin@vancouversun.com