Under the Big Top in Siem Reap - Cambodia blog entry #23

Maybethis week’s Sunday post has nothing to do with the religion I practice. Maybe I’mnot sharing any Bible verses or Jesus stories today. But this experience wasone of the most inspirational we witnessed while in Cambodia.

Monday,after touring another three temples, having a two-hour spa experience, and eatinganother delicious dinner in a nice restaurant, we went to The Phare Circus inSiem Reap. Other than sitting in the round “big-top”, this was more than just acircus. 

Itis a venue where the performers use theater, music, dance and modern acts totell unique Cambodian stories; historical, folk and modern. The energy,emotion, enthusiasm and talent of the young circus artists was breathtaking. 

Andmore importantly, the stories they told, using very few words but mostly actions and facial expressions,were riveting.  

 

Theshow we saw was titled “Khmer Metal”. It presented the wilder side of modern urbanlife as the artists shared the kinds of challenges that Cambodian young adultsface. 

Thesetting is a grungy Phnom Penh rock bar, where patrons demonstrate problemswith alcoholism, cheating, lying, stealing, and relationships with the oppositesex, as well as (surprisingly to me) the same sex.

Theseare all issues which young people in Cambodia struggle with, and I think we areall aware of the same problems in our cities.

Butthe entire enterprise is so much more than the show.

(From their website) The performers are studentsand graduates from Phare Ponleu Selpak’s vocational training center inBattambang. The association was formed in 1994 by nine young men coming homefrom a refugee camp after the Khmer Rouge regime. They were greatly helpedduring that time by an art teacher using drawing classes as therapy and wantedto share this new skill among the poor, socially deprived, and troubledyoungsters in Battambang. They founded an art school, and a public schoolfollowed to offer free education. A music school and theatre school were nextand finally, for the kids who wanted more, the circus school. Today more than1,200 pupils attend the public school daily and 500 attend the alternativeschools. Phare Ponleu Selpak also has extensive outreach programs, trying tohelp with the problems highlighted in their own tales.

The Cambodian Circus offers these studentsand graduates a place to hone their skills and earn a decent wage. Money thatwill take them out of poverty and give them self-respect and freedom.

The Phare Circus is reviving the arts thatwas nearly destroyed during the reign of the Khmer Rouge, while providing aneducation for the poor children of Cambodia and giving them the opportunity tolearn acting and high-flying tricks by joining the Phare Circus.

I'm sorry that the pictures don't come close to telling you what the show was really like or that I don't have more of them. The show was just so mezmerising that I didn't want to take my eyes off the performers to point my camera. Plus, it was dark in there. I hope you at least can pick up a little of their vibe.