Celestial art of nuance

Ask why classical Cambodian dance is so mesmerizing and you’ll get at least three different answers: One may say it’s the distinctive, hyper-articulated hand gestures, while another will insist it’s the birdlike, gliding walk. A third will argue it’s the meditative sculptural balances reminiscent of temple carvings at Angkor Wat.

For this reviewer, observing the dance and music ensembles of the Royal University of Fine Arts in Phnom Penh was akin to watching moonlight play across water.

Each incremental shift of attention -- the suggestion of a shrug here, the slightest hiccup of a filigreed step there -- was so finely modulated in this art of nuance that one readily accepted the all-female troupe as the celestial creatures of myth.

Ancient lore tells how these apsaras, or female spirits, were born out of a heavenly sea of milk stirred by the naga, a giant serpent that loomed large in the world premiere of Sophiline Cheam Shapiro’s “Seasons of Migration,” performed Friday night at the Carpenter Performing Arts Center in Long Beach. Figuratively, it represented homeland and tradition. Literally, set pieces of a towering head and tail rose up from the stage to embrace the four-part meditation on culture shock.

For Shapiro, who arrived in the United States in 1991, this theme is personal, as it surely must be for the more than 55,000 Cambodians living in Long Beach.

Working within the tradition, though, she couched her original vision in mythological terms. Thus, after the initial “Euphoria” of a journey seen clearly in strong diagonal configurations and briskly rhythmic rocking steps, a cadre of gods and goddesses must adjust to a new life on Earth.

The difficulty of this transition was conveyed in “Rejection,” in which the naga appeared in the figure of the serpent goddess Neang Neak, portrayed by the consummate Sam Sathya, who communicated great sorrow through delicate facial expressions as she sought to evade her lengthy “tail” of shimmering silver and gold embroidery before finally making peace with it.

The desire to escape the past as one moved into the future was likewise key to “Adjustment,” which saw Hun Pen dance alternately with counterpointed trios representing light and shadow -- intertwined opposites also featured in “Equilibrium.” In this conclusion, harmonious duets restored a cosmic balance through the twin-identity half-Shiva, half-Vishnu character of Harihara.

Opening the program was “Ream Eyso and Moni Mekhala,” a traditional dance drama that brought Shapiro’s inventive use of directional changes and novel tableaux in “Seasons” into sharp relief.

Also noteworthy was her innovative use of music by the onstage pin peat orchestra, such as employing a sralai (quadruple-reed oboe) melody traditionally reserved for battle scenes to express Neang Neak’s quandary.

Sathya again demonstrated her ability to speak volumes with the merest of physical inflection as Moni Mekhala, alongside Chamroeun Samphors as Vorachhun, and Koy Sina and Thong Kim Ann in the masked role of Ream Eyso.