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The Rebirth of Apsara: Beyond Genocide is an adaptive multi-media dance and theatre work observing Cambodian Genocide Remembrance Day and the 50th Anniversary of the beginning of the Khmer Rouge Genocide. The piece will honor genocide survivors, the resilience of the Cambodian spirit, and how Cambodian arts have been, and continue to be, transmitted from generation to generation.
The Rebirth of Apsara: Beyond Genocide investigates the relationship between art and war, exploring how Khmer classical dance, particularly Apsaras, fabled female celestial beings, has embodied the essence of Cambodian culture from ancient mythology to its post-genocide resurrection.
Mirroring her own life’s journey as an artist to explore the impact Apsara has had on both Khmer civilization and Cambodian artists of today, Charya Burt sets her re-imagined classical dance gestures to music by renowned Cambodian-American composer Chinary Ung and traditional Khmer pin-peat. The performance is all tied together by a live soundscape by Marimba Lumina virtuoso Joel Davel and an engaging video backdrop designed by Hsuan-Kuang Hsieh.
Joining Charya’s tour de force performance on stage will be dancer Chakra Sokhomsan and select Bay Area Cambodian community dancers.
A talkback with the artists and genocide survivors will follow the performance, moderated by Mory Chhom.
OACC’s “Celebrating Our HeART-filled Heritage” Asian American & Pacific Islander performing arts series will provide a platform for local Asian and Asian Pacific Islander culturally relevant artists that inspire intergenerational and cross-cultural exchange. This program series is sponsored by Matson, the Bank of Marin, and Dr. Raymond L. Eng.
Meet the Production Team
Charya Burt: Creator, Choreographer, Lead Performer
Charya Burt is an acclaimed master dancer, choreographer, vocalist, and teacher of Classical Cambodian Dance. After the Khmer Rouge genocide, Burt trained extensively with Cambodia’s foremost surviving dance masters, eventually joining the dance faculty of Cambodia’s Royal University of Fine Arts. The Rebirth of Apsara, her recent Hewlett 50 Arts Commission, premiered in 2024 at Sonoma State University’s Green Music Center.
An inaugural Dance/USA and 2022 Americans for the Arts Johnson Fellow and Isadora Duncan Award recipient for Individual Performance, Burt has performed her original works nationwide at venues including Jacob’s Pillow, San Francisco Opera House, Oregon Shakespeare Festival, and many others. Her recent choreographic works include Beautiful Dark (2024), about the relationship between colorism and perceptions of beauty, Silenced (2018), Of Spirits Intertwined (2018), and Heavenly Garden (2016).
A true culture bearer, Burt’s mission is to continue preserving and renewing her art form, elevating the professionalism of community dance groups, and creating innovative new works firmly rooted in tradition. She is the founding artistic director of Charya Burt Cambodian Dance, based in the San Francisco North Bay.
Chinary Ung: Composer
“Louk Kru” Chinary Ung was born in Cambodia and spent his early childhood in Prey Lovea, a small village surrounded by rice paddies. His first exposure to Western classical music was as a teenager, and he was so drawn to it that he came to New York in 1964 to study clarinet performance (at the Manhattan School of Music) and, later, composition with Chou Wen-Chung at Columbia University. During the Cambodian genocide, where nearly 2 million people died, Ung feared that the country would lose its precious musical heritage because the Khmer Rouge regime targeted artists. He devoted himself to learning the neat-ek, the Cambodian xylophone, and performing traditional pin peat music (the Cambodian gamelan ensemble) throughout the United States.
Kalean Ung: Writer
Performer and playwright Kalean Ung is an award-winning Cambodian-American multi-disciplinary theater artist whose professional career ranges from Shakespeare to experimental theatre to contemporary opera and solo performance. She has performed at The Kirk Douglas Theatre, Disney Hall, REDCAT, and The Getty Villa, among others, collaborating with critically acclaimed theatre and opera companies, including Critical Mass Performance Group, The LA Philharmonic, Rogue Artists Ensemble, Independent Shakespeare Company, and CalArts’s Center for New Performance. Kalean’s voice acting can be heard as the lead in Denis Do’s award-winning, animated feature about the Cambodian genocide, FUNAN.
For this adaptation, additional story development and text by Charya and Rob Burt.
Joel Davel: Musical Director/Performer
Joel Davel (Musical Director) is an accomplished percussionist whose performances and compositions range from classical to highly experimental. Davel is known for his many appearances in theatrical productions, for many performance collaborations with composer Paul Dresher and Vân-Ánh Võ and for his 20 year association with electronic music designer Don Buchla. Davel is the music director and composer for dNaga Dance Company and PCB designer for Buchla. He performs on the Marimba Lumina, an instrument he built and co-designed. Davel holds a Bachelor of Music from Northern Illinois University and MFA from Mills College.
Chakra Sokhomsan: Dancer
Born and raised to Khmer refugee parents, Chakra is an activist, artist, and educator. The Cambodian community in Chakra’s hometown, Long Beach, CA, helped develop his passion for the arts. He carries over ten years of Khmer Classical Dance training under Prumsodun Ok, Charya Burt, Sophiline Cheam Shapiro, and Reaksmey Lath. Recently, Chakra graduated with a Bachelor of Arts in Dance from Dickinson College. He has also worked and performed with Alessio Trevisani, Sarah Skaggs, Pilobolus, the American Dance Festival, and more. Currently he is a teaching artist with the Modern Apsara Company in Long Beach, CA.
Rob Burt: Director
Rob Burt, Executive Director of Charya Burt Cambodian Dance, is a theatre director, producer, and educator. A theatre teacher for over 35 years, he directed and produced over 100 theatrical productions, many for his award-winning playwriting program at Elsie Allen High School in Santa Rosa, California. The school’s 350-seat theater was named in his honor in 2017. From 1990-1992, Burt taught playwriting at the University of Fine Arts in Phnom Penh, Cambodia, producing original plays with actors from Cambodia’s National Theatre. Here, he met his future wife, Charya, who was on the university’s dance faculty. In 1993, he helped Charya establish her U.S. dance company and has been her creative partner ever since.
Charya Burt Cambodian Dance Company:
- Charya Burt
- Chakra Sokhomsan
- Hannah Chea
- Baron Lim
- Moragaut Souet Samounn
- Sydnee Thy
Meet the Moderator
Mory Chhom is a Cambodian American and a dedicated public health leader with nearly 20 years of experience serving immigrant and underserved communities. Currently serving as the Director of Population-Focused Prevention and Early Intervention, she oversees culturally and linguistically responsive programs that promote wellness and equity. She serves on the board of the Center for Empowering Refugees and Immigrants and the Editorial Board for Health Promotion Practice.
