What Is Apsara Dance Essay

Apsara: The exciting dance of Khmer population

Apsara dance is one of the most fascinating cultural heritage of Cambodia. With a long tradition in Khmer society, the dance claims itself from the playful Hindu deities mentioned by the Sanskrit sacred texts.

Apsara: heavenly or mundane

When they sing from their divine instruments, the Apsara girls enter in a merrily dance. Through various Aryan heavens (Arya in Sanskrit means "noble man"), these little fairies delight the gods with their music and dancing and also those who have come to know the bliss at zenith.

The dancing girls are somewhat voluptuous and beautiful and do nothing else than to inspire love both in heaven and on earth. Apsara dancers cross the worlds and they make love with

Which means that it is believed that the Khmer traditional dance is connected by a long tradition to the dance practiced in the court of the angkorien monarchs, which in turn were inspired by the Apsara mythology. The influences on music and dance came from India, through Thailand and Indonesia.

In the Apsara dance, the women dressed in brightly colored costumes with elaborate headdresses, make gentle and graceful moves which are accompanied by a set of percussion instruments called Pin Peat. The orchestra is made up of drums, gongs, and bamboo xylophones. In the villages of Cambodia, it is common for actors who are part of the show to wear different masks.

For almost twenty centuries, the heart of the classical dance remained the Apsara dancer, a jovial almost wanton dancer, whose images are everywhere. The princess Buppha Devi, the daughter of King Norodom Sihanouk, is a professional Apsara dancer.

Adorned with gold headdresses and tunics and silk skirts, the dancers execute fine movements with knees plie with the heels first on the floor at the every step and shy smiles on their faces. Each position carries its own symbolism: for example, a finger pointing to the sky means today and the stand to the side with the foot up represents the fly. The Apsara dance is like ballet, representing various ancient