U.S. Grants Visas to Cambodian Dancers : Culture: Troupe will now be able to participate in the L.A. Festival.

The U.S. State Department approved visitor visas Tuesday for 36 members of the Cambodian Classical Dance Troupe, opening the door for the Phnom Penh-based company to perform Sept. 13-16 as part of Los Angeles Festival. It will be the first time since 1971 that Cambodian performers have appeared in the United States.

The visas--which have been under consideration since early June--were approved even though the United States does not recognize Cambodia or its Vietnamese-backed leader, Hun Sen.

Late last month, U.S. policies underwent an abrupt change when the Bush Administration announced plans to open a dialogue with Vietnam to bring peace to Cambodia.

“We’ve waited so long for this moment,” said Judith Luther, the festival’s executive director. “It’s wonderful that, for today, at least, the arts rose to the top of the State Department’s priority list.”

Known in Cambodia as the Dance Troupe of the University of Fine Arts, the company was re-established by Hun Sen’s minister of culture, Chheng Phon after the Khmer Rouge’s takeover.

Because of the company’s ties to the government, some members of the local Cambodian community have been divided over whether the dancers should be granted visas to perform, claiming that to do so would legitimize the Communist Hun Sen regime.

The company’s artistic director, granted a visa to visit festival officials in May, was only the third Cambodian under the current Phnom Penh regime to be granted U.S. entry.