Performers of court dance use programmed movements and gestures to convey meanings, reflecting the elegance of Cambodian culture and art, and expressing the traditional spirit of Cambodia. There are four main roles in the court dance: man, woman, giant and monkey, and different roles have different gesture languages. Cambodian court dance has strict regulations on costumes, props and movements, for example, the crowns of female dancers are divided into several types of different levels and characters, belonging to the royal characters basically wear a single spiral pagoda headdress, while the lower level of the maids of honor and the male roles of princes and generals each have different headdresses, monkeys and ogres of this type of roles with the same level of headdresses. Performers of Cambodian court dances often wear flowers on their heads, sometimes real flowers, sometimes fake flowers, such as in the Fairy Dance we can often see Cambodian actresses wearing beautiful flowers called Indian Susans. In terms of wearing flowers, there are strict requirements for women and men to wear them, with women generally wearing them next to their right ear and wearing a flower spike made of jasmine on the left side of the crown, while male performers are required to wear flowers and flower spikes on the right side of the head. Cambodian court dance is a specific role, usually to praise God, the king and heroes, each character's costumes and props and dance posture are strictly regulated, the main gestures in the dance include: clenched fists to express anger; four fingers tightly closed, the thumb in the palm of the hand to express surprise, worry, contemplation, or prayers; the thumb and forefinger are connected to the palm of the hand at a right angle to the other three fingers curved back to indicate that the fast, flowers, picking flowers, also indicates that the birds The thumb and forefinger are connected at right angles to the palm of the hand, and the other three fingers are bent backward to indicate coming, flowers, picking flowers, and birds; the fingers are bent backward together to indicate "victory", "why", "this way", and wind, clouds, moonlight or sunlight. Steps in the performance process also have specific meanings, such as the farewell step, in and out of the step, fighting step, flying step, inertia step and quick step. The court dance has many different steps and gestures, and through these unique gestures and steps, the joys and sorrows of the characters are fully embodied.
2. The movements are delicate and smooth
Dancing dancers' bodies change subtly with the music, and the dance is dynamic and peculiar. Classical dance posture is elegant, the body rhythm is delicate and rich, strong sense of sculpture, changes in the stillness of the movement, movement in the stillness of the movement, the movement of the stillness of the free, smooth and free. Each posture has a specific meaning, such as fingers, arms, body posture and facial expression, etc. Through different changes to convey the complex psychological activities of the characters such as joy, anger, sadness and love, hate and hatred. The dance is rich in vocabulary, with delicate and smooth movement changes, mainly through the soft changes of the fingers to express different languages and situations, such as the fingers together and bending backward to indicate "victory", "why", "this way", also indicates the wind, the wind, the wind, the wind, the wind, the wind, the wind, the wind, the wind, the wind, the wind, the wind, the wind, and the wind. ", also indicates the wind, clouds, moonlight or sunshine, women's gestures have chest around the wrist, two hands in front of the crotch a finger tip up a hand down the rotating action, the fingers of both hands basically keep a hand of the thumb and forefinger pinch, the other three fingers standing up in the shape of a flower, while the other hand to keep four fingers together and cocked back in the shape of the hand, and through the alternating position of the hands to express different meanings. change the position to express different meanings.
3. Emphasizing the narrative role of singing
In Cambodian court dances, the process of character performance and the development of the storyline are narrated by the singers, who, accompanied by the folk band, explain different meanings with lyrics as the dancers change their arms, legs and other parts of the body.
4. Story as the content of performance
Cambodian court dance is based on the story of love and battle between the king, queen, prince, fairy, and the devil and the monkey, such as the works of Dangdat Nagasin, the Palace of the Devil, and the Battle of the Monkeys, etc., which are rich in content, with twists and turns in the plot, and the ups and downs that make it fascinating. The prince and princess in the Cambodian court dance represent male and female gods respectively, the giant usually represents evil, and the monkey usually represents justice and goodness.
5. Strong religious colors
Cambodia's court dance is elegant, mainly Buddhist dance. Cambodia is a country that emphasizes dance, because the Cambodian court dance has a close relationship with Buddhism, so in the process of dancing to always maintain a dignified and elegant posture, in the eyes of the change is also very calm, peaceful, the spirit of Buddhism conveyed very accurately. Many of the scenes in the Cambodian court dance come from the reliefs in the Angkor monuments, in which there are also many women's dance postures, and these women are the gods that Cambodian people worship, so many of the court dance postures that come from the reliefs have religious meanings. In addition, Cambodia is greatly influenced by religion, which can also be seen from its court dance performance costumes, the performers of the Cambodian court dance costumes are made to imitate the image of the gods on the Angkor reliefs.
6. Actors are strictly trained
These programmed gestures and postures, which can only be mastered after many years of training, express the seven emotions and six desires of human beings, such as fear, anger and love. Cambodian court dances have roles for kings, princes, fairies, princesses, monkeys and devils, and there are whole sets of sign language gestures for different meanings such as crying, laughing, loving, bowing, fighting and seducing. These gestures form a kind of "word" that represents different things in nature, such as fruits, flowers and leaves. They are used in different combinations and transformations with the moving arms and legs to express different ideas and concepts, and the different ways of executing them with the arms depend on the type of "word". In Cambodian court dance, the more common shape has one hand bent inward to flick the flower in front of the abdomen, one hand arm straight forward to push the palm of the hand outward with four fingers together and the thumb back, and the foot to squat on one leg, the other foot hooked backward to keep the body in the shape of the upright, and at the same time, this shape is often found in the form of one-legged kneeling on the ground. The requirements for the dance posture are quite high, which not only reflects the calmness and solemnity of the Cambodian court dance, but also reflects the dancers' profound skills. In addition to the strict requirements in terms of professional skills, as a court dance performer not only need to master complex gestures, but also need to accurately convey the emotional state of the character in the performance, with a high standard of performance emotions.
7. Sacred Status
The story of the Indian epic Ramayana became the source of some of the famous Cambodian court dances, which have many characters, and different characters determine different dance movements. Influenced by the art of the Indian epic Ramayana, the actors perform with rich facial expressions, complicated and programmed dance gestures, and slow rhythms. The Ramayana, also translated as The Adventures of Rama, is the story of Rama and his wife. On his way to escape from the palace with his wife, Rama meets the monkey king and makes an alliance with him. After his wife is abducted by the demon king, Lopona, Rama rescues his wife with the help of the divine monkey, Hanuman, and a group of monkeys and returns to the palace, where he listens to folk rumors and doubts his wife's chastity, trying to harm her. God. In these renditions of the story, there are many fight scenes in which Hanuman, the god monkey, and the monkeys, armed with a variety of weapons and accompanied by intense music, struggle until they are victorious. The court dance does not have too many large-scale movements and complex plots, and the content of each story seems to the viewer to be relatively clear in its presentation.
In Cambodia, court dance is mystical and sacred, and is considered "pure" in the context of some of the more complex dance theater productions of love, war, and magical stories, often without a clear story and designed to evoke a sense of reverence. Before the audience watches a monkey fly, a goddess swim in the sea, or a prince fight, they know exactly how the various characters are supposed to perform. Going beyond the story to watch the court dance is a catharsis for their spirit, and the Cambodian people are able to see in it the relationships between the characters to each other that are revealed in the dance, which is a metaphorical way of behaving in Cambodian society. Thus, in Cambodia, the dance performs a traditional sublime spirit, and the audience will honor the court dance as they would honor a god.