Performing Angkor: Dance, Silk, and Stone with Professor Kaja McGowan

Performing Angkor has been a powerful way for Cambodian people to revisit their architectural past en route to reaffirming their future. The Angkorian Empire, situated now in the province of Siem Reap in Cambodia, once stretched across much of Mainland Southeast Asia from the 9th to the 15th centuries. Early inscriptions relate how Khmer dancers wrapped in sumptuous silks were presented as offerings to temples. The Cornell in Cambodia course sequence will encourage students in an embodied way to explore how the creative and political fastening of the lived world to a spiritual place like Angkor has a long and richly embedded history combining dance, silk and stone.