Asia Pacific Program Preserves and Expands Traditions

In Cambodia, years of war and political strife took their toll on the classical dance community--theaters were burned, teachers and dancers killed, stories of the ancestors changed to party tracts. But lately, Cambodians have regained a foothold in their artistic heritage, and things are looking up.

So said Tip Moni Mao, a teacher, dancer, and researcher, who lives in Phnom Penh, and who had just demonstrated one of the reasons to be thankful that Cambodian dance has risen from the ashes. Performing the Buong Suong dance, which traditionally ends a ceremony in which unity between heaven and earth is sought, she drew the audience in with exquisitely delicate details--carefully placed feet with toes that could curl upward, hands that looked like bird of paradise flowers. As the light caught her brilliant gold sash and crown, her expression alternated between fervor and bliss.

Mao appeared on a sampler program of mostly traditional dance and music at the UCLA Dance Building Thursday night, alongside other participants in this year’s Asia Pacific Performance Exchange (APPEX), a six-week intercultural arts residency that draws performers from all over Asia and the United States.

This second of two programs this week contained one contemporary piece of performance art (by Denise Uyehara), but the rest of the performers showcased bits of classical repertory from older forms. There was also a preview of the kinds of collaborations they’ll present in two more “salon” showings on Aug. 10 and 11.

The one fusion piece was a brief but special delight. It featured three drummers who fell into a vibrant pulsating groove after starting with the rhythms more familiar to their individual traditions--Oseiku Daniel Diaz on congas, Danongan Kalanduyan on a Philippine dbakan and I Nyoman Windha playing the Balinese kendang.

Windha also provided his own composition, not named on the program. After playing the suling (a mournful-sounding flute), he sang, a cappella, a heart-stoppingly delicate song. He later explained this was a song form called tembang, and that his lyrics expressed concern for the political well-being of Bali and hope for the survival of its cultural traditions.

Brief introductions and question-and-answer sessions following each performance provided a few clarifying--and fascinating--details. After a masked Javanese court dance, for instance, Garrett Kam demonstrated the way a dancer starts training with a mask--basically by doing a duet with it while both face a mirror.

And before her astonishing, virtuosic Balinese solo, “Teruna Jaya,” Ida Ayu Wimba Ruspawati explained that it represented the energy of a youth coming of age. To the strains of an onstage mini-gamelan (other dancers used taped accompaniment), Ruspawati vibrated with quicksilver isolations--eyes large and active, fingers fluttering, neck shifting.

As is usual at any APPEX event, participants couldn’t seem to stop expressing heartfelt thanks to the program’s founding mother, UCLA’s Judy Mitoma, for bringing them together. The world of cross-cultural performance can be a little thankful for that too.

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APPEX traditional performance salons continue Tuesday and Thursday; APPEX fusion salons Aug. 10 and 11, UCLA Dance Building, 7 p.m. Limited seating, free. (310) 206-1335.