Boston WCVB's CityLine Interviews Angkor Dance Troupe's Tim Thou and Bora Chiemroum

Angkor Dance Troupe Founder, Tim Thou and Executive Director, Bora Chiemroum sit with CityLine Host, Karen Holmes Ward

We're excited to announce that Angkor Dance Troupe will be featured on a segment of Boston's local news station, WCVB's CityLine. Tune into the segment that will air live on Sunday, May 14, 2023 at 12:00PM Eastern Standard Time.

Founder Tim Thou and Executive Director Bora Chiemroum were interviewed by Karen Holmes Ward.

Karen Holmes Ward is the Director of Public Affairs and Community Services as well as host and executive producer of CityLine, WCVB’s award-winning weekly magazine program which addresses the accomplishments, concerns and issues facing people of color living in Boston and its suburbs. Many notables including Oscar winners Regina King, Lupita Nyong’o, Forest Whitaker, Octavia Spencer, Denzel Washington, Louis Gossett Jr., Barry Jenkins and Spike Lee among others have been interviewed by Karen for CityLine. CityLine has been a recipient of the Associated Press Massachusetts/Rhode Island ‘Best’ Public Affairs Program and numerous Emmy nominations.

Angkor Dance Troupe Featured on WBUR

"Art could not exist during the Cambodian genocide, [Bora] Chiemruom said. This is perhaps among the main reasons preservation is always at the forefront of their minds. [Phousita] Huy learned from masters of classical and folkloric dance, who were forced to hide their talents for fear of being killed."

Thank you to Cristela Guerra and WBUR 90.9 FM for highlighting Angkor Dance Troupe alongside Boston Ballet. We're honored to be able to continue sharing our stories with our community.

Link to article: https://www.wbur.org/news/2023/05/03/angkor-dance-troupe-boston-ballet-pandemic?fbclid=IwAR0lxFZ78MoAqNRS8G5dZQzIg0bWr8nlT-Mzh4QxGsN7oXCymDufqbBYB-Y

Urban Khmer Ballet Hosts Neakru Sophiline Cheam Shapiro in Lowell

RSVP for all workshops: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSfyyFT0IoFjv-PNA0alaBo_AywE9bB3xSgygpK6izm9CnEUdw/viewform?fbclid=IwAR0zerx_mI0DBSCLy0wJMghewRRuXs4rp0PVhyl3VMNBuxMbsVPNTVeVVww

Urban Khmer Ballet is a new initiative created by Angkor Dance Troupe Alumni, Chummeng Soun and Peter Veth. The mission primarily focuses on renegotiating a place for the diaspora in Cambodian performance art and dance.

The renegotiation of a place for diaspora in Cambodian dance poses the question – what might the future hold for Cambodia’s performing arts and culture in the diaspora?

In Lowell, MA, Cambodian performance arts is connected to the notion of protecting and safeguarding as a form of cultural preservation. Master teachers, local organizations, and local dance troupes within the perimeter of Lowell are laser-focused on cultural preservation, posing the question for many Cambodian performance artists today: What might the future hold? Finding themselves treading the balancing act between staying true to cultural heritage and their creative interpretation of bodily expression.

Embarking on this journey with Urban Khmer Ballet is Neakru Sophiline Cheam Shapiro, a choreographer known for her contemporary approach to choreography and dances; combining classical Cambodian gestures and body movements to express contemporary ideas. To answer this question, we invited Neakru to have a dialogue that is in response to her experiences as an artist that challenges the norms of Cambodian tradition to share with the next generation of cultural custodians in Lowell. Neakru Sophiline Cheam Shapiro has recently made headlines when she was kicked out of the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City, NY for praying to the statues of her Ancestral Gods.

To celebrate Asian-American and Pacific Islander Month, Urban Khmer Ballet is proud to announce that they will be hosting a series of celebrations that include a film screening, dialogue, dance demonstration, writing, dance performance, and writing workshops that encompasses the question regarding: what might the future hold for Cambodia’s performing arts and culture in the diaspora? The goal of this 5-day program is to experience, exercise, and express the ideas. Technical workshops and dialogue are tools to help the article respond to their ongoing questions.

Programming is currently free to the public:

May 16th: Meet and greet from 5:00pm-7:00pm May 17th: Season of Migration 6:30pm-9:00pm May 18th: Dance Rehearsal 5:00pm-7:00pm

All programs will take place at:

Richard K. and Nancy L. Donahue Family Academic Arts Center

240 Central St. Lowell, MA 01852

The following Zoom Link is available for guests who wish to attend virutally:

https://middlesex-mass-edu.zoom.us/j/94172385841

RSVP for all workshops:

https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSfyyFT0IoFjv-PNA0alaBo_AywE9bB3xSgygpK6izm9CnEUdw/viewform?fbclid=IwAR0zerx_mI0DBSCLy0wJMghewRRuXs4rp0PVhyl3VMNBuxMbsVPNTVeVVww

This program is supported by Urban Khmer Ballet, Angkor Dance Troupe (ADT), Cambodian American Literary Arts Association (CALAA). Presented through the support of the Creativity, the Arts, and Social Transformation Program (CAST) at Brandeis University and Fulbright-Hays 2023 to Cambodia.