Cambodian fashion timeline: Part 6. Apsara and Royal Ballet
Apsara dance is the most recognisable form of performance art to come out of Cambodia. While it has roots in sacred Angkorian rites, what we now understand as apsara dance is fairly modern, being created in 1960s by the queen Sisowath Kossamak and popularised by princess Norodom Boppha Devi.
Left: Kneeling apsara. Angkor period brass sculpture. Right: modern apsara performer.
Apsaras are divine female performers in Hindu and Buddhist mythology. They entertain gods with dancing, serve as protagonists of many fairytales and fantasy love stories, help royal families and gods in the time of need and often play the general role of benevolent feminine spirits. Apsara dancer is a symbol of beauty and elegance in Cambodia and neighbouring Thailand, their images have become inspiration for artists, musicians, designers not only in Asia but across the world, especially since French colonisation, when European travelers took first photographic images of Angkor Wat and other temples, decorated with carvings of apsaras, kings, queens and gods and brought them to the West.
During the majority of existence of the Khmer Empire, no people, even kings, covered their upper body with clothing (with an exception for armour). Even after the introduction of av blouse and sbai many women only wore sampot. However, since French colonisation, women in Cambodia have been pressured to follow Western modesty standards. Nowadays, all apsara dancers perform in tight sleeveless shirts fastened with a zipper or a row of buttons on the front, in colour white or the closest to the dancers natural skin tone.
The crown of an Apsara dacer is just called "a crown" in Khmer - mkod. It has three tall tips and is often decorated with flowers like rumduol or plumeria. The collar on the dancer's shoulders is called srang ka. It's red in colour and decorated with brass and embroidery depicting flowers and leaves. It's matched by a belt, identical in style (kravat khim khat), that's attached to the collar with two golden chains crossed between each other. They're called sangvar.
Traditional bracelets worn on the upper arm have barely changed in design since Angkor era. They're called snab dei or baing phap and were a gender-neutral adornment of all Khmer royals regardless of gender.
Srang ka and snab dei on a Cambodian statue of a deity or a king
Other pieces of jewellery worn by Khmer Apsara:
Kra Ya - large earrings, styled after flowers
Koang Nhor - matching bracelets and anklets (apsaras wear identical pairs on two arms or two ankles)
Koang Rak - diamond bracelet with a floral pattern
Tumhou - diamond earrings
Patrum - bracelet made of copper coil
Kong Tong Chhuk - anklet made of a solid piece of metal
Traditional jewellery of dancers and brides + a floral bracelet. Flower garlands as a tradition were brought from Sri Lanka to Siam in 19th century and quickly gained popularity in neighbouring countries.
The only piece of jewellery that unfortunately didn't make it from Angkorian times to modernity is a ring worn as a pendant. Which is a shame! It's almost a uniquely Cambodian piece of jewellery - i never seen any other ethnicity depicted wearing it and no one besides Cambodians claims it as a part of their national costume.
(don't ask me what the hell the thing on the right is)
Jewellery and hairdress are all based on portrayals of goddesses and queens on the walls of Angkor Wat - i described them in part 1 of the series. The only thing besides the silky top that separates modern Apsara dancers from their ancient counterparts is the style of sampot.
One common part of dress for most modern female dancers is sampot sarobab ka'at kbal neak style of sampot skirt. It literally translates to "sampot folded in style imitating a snake's head". (See image below) To achieve this effect, a piece of cloth is tied into a bundle on the waist and loose and are pleated into a straight line, after which the pleats are folded to hang over a belt. Cambodians believe the first Khmer queen was a naga - a woman of a race of snake-like deities that ruled waters and the underworld. Serpentine imagery in traditional dress may represent connection to this legend.
Another famous Khmer dance performance is Cambodian Royal Ballet. Unlike its Thai counterpart it's performed exclusively by women. It's accompanied by a pinpeat traditional orchestra and a choir telling a story through songs. There's also a Lakhon Khol masked dance performed by mostly men in masks depicting heroes and villains of the Khmer version of Indian Ramayana epic - Reamker - that tells a story of an exiled prince, his wife, his brother and a monkey king travelling the world and defeating foes. The most popular parts of Ramayana to stage in Cambodia are the battle of the monkey king and demons "asuras", the seduction of a mermaid princess by the monkey king and princess Seyda - one of the main characters - having her loyalty tested by holy fire. The last two episodes don't exist in the written version of Reamker - the first one is a later addition to the story and the second one exists in the classical Indian version of the text. Reamker is a massive epic in size (i have the russian translation - it's over 700 pages long!) so it's never really performed in full by one troupe. Usually, instead most popular chapters of the story are reenacted on stage in several different dance forms.
In Royal Ballet dancer costumes are not designed from scratch but rather split into archetypes. Goddesses and queens/princesses are grouped into the "neang ek" category, that literally means "princesses"
Modern Cambodian dancer, depicting a goddess or a queen
The outfit of a neang ek character is very similar to dress of post-Angkorian Thai and Cambodian queens. Just like Cambodian, Thai and Lao folk dress, neang ek characters wear sbai shawl and a sampot skirt, but heavily decorated: the shawl is embroidered with a diamond-like pattern and sampot is decorated with a shimmering golden Kbach Khmer ornament. The sampot if fastened with a metallic khim khat belt with a buckle shaped like a flower or a star.
The role and status of a character can be determined by the colour of the av sbai (literally blouse-and-shawl) silky top they're wearing - the main female character wears a white outfit.
The most striking piece of clothing of any Cambodian, Thai or Lao prima ballerina is the tall, golden mokot crown. These crowns were occasionally worn by Khmer princesses, but their modern for is based on real crowns of Siamese, Khmer and Lao royals. (Lanna crowns are different and very unique but that's a topic for another conversation)
Mokot worn by royalty. Angkor Wat
The srang ka of a ballet dancer as opposed to an Apsara dancer is pointy around the outer edges and more heavily embroidered, matching the sbai. Over the sbai, 5 golden chains worn diagonally across the torso - a popular type of jewellery also worn by brides and princesses nowadays. A round or rectangular pendant, decorating the chest, is worn by both male and female characters but feminine version is usually more elaborate.
Ancient feminine gold pendant from the Khmer Empire
Characters of lower rank, representing wealthy women like duchesses and court ladies (kom nam) wear smaller crowns and less jewellery: "...smaller bracelets, no gems in their armlet, only three chains that are gilt silver, only one anklet, and silky sampot instead of charobab" (from Wikipedia). The smaller crowns with tips bent backwards, resembling fish or goose tail (but only those that wrap around the hair - all large crowns that obscure most of the back of the head are called mokot regardless of shape) or those that simply frame the face like a kokoshnik are usually called kbang.
Robam Chun Por (Blessing Dance) performer throwing petals as a part of dancing routine. Note the asymmetrical shirt that leaves one shoulder uncovered.
Khmer actresses from 1960s wear modernised kbang.
