Dancers
by Colin Grafton
From a magical dance performance in besieged Phnom Penh in 1974 to a chance re-encounter 32 years later, the untold saga of Cambodian classical dancers.
- Author
- Colin Grafton
- Published
- 2022
- Pages
- 129
- Language
- English
- ISBN
- 98799249631-3-4
- Formats
- ADB Physical Library, paperback
“This book is not about the Cambodian classical dance,” remarked the author after its release in 2022. “It is about a few people whose resilience and dedication helped to revive the classical dance after the collapse of the Khmer Rouge and ‘Democratic Kampuchea’.”
[entry under construction].
Tags: Khmer Republic, civil war, Khmer Rouge, Fall of Phnom Penh, 1975, Modern Cambodia, Khmer classical dance, Cambodian dancers, dancers, 1970s, Cambodian daily life
About the Author
Colin Grafton
Colin Grafton (b. London, England, 1947) is a traveller-photographer who came to Asia overland in 1969. He taught English in Laos from 1970 to 1972 and in Cambodia from 1973 to 1975, leaving Phnom Penh a few days before the takeover by the Khmer Rouge. He was able to photograph one of the last Khmer classical dance performances in Phnom Penh in 1974, and 30 years later by chance crossed paths with one of the dancers in those photos, who had come to perform in Tokyo. This encounter spurred him to return to Cambodia in search of the other surviving dancers.
Escaping to Bangkok in 1975 — “we naively thought the crisis would last only a few weeks or months”, he recalled for us in 2021 –, he went to Japan, where he taught Japanese overseas volunteers (JOCV/JICA) until 1980, then returned to Thailand as a volunteer worker in the Cambodian refugee camps. He held his first photo exhibition on Cambodia in the UK in 1981. Later, after 3 years in South America, he returned to Japan where he continued teaching, worked as English language advisor for ACCU (Asia/ Pacific Cultural Centre for UNESCO) in Tokyo, and produced several photo exhibitions on Laos & Cambodia.
Colin returned to Cambodia on vacation in 1992, became a frequent visitor and settled here in 2014. Since then, he and his wife Keiko Kitamura have worked on exhibitions and projects at Bophana Center, Tuol Sleng Genocide Museum and Meta House. In 2021, he published Dancers, a visual and written account of his re-encounter with surviving Khmer classical dancers.
In July 2026, California-based filmographer Robert Carleton-Chhaing privately screened the documentary he has devoted to the life and work of Colin Grafton, Just Being There. The film, which features several Cambodian men and women Colin had crossed paths with in 1972 – 1975 and met again in the 2020s, will be officially presented at the Phnom Penh Film Festival in May 2027.
In August 2018, at RUFA Phnom Penh, Colin Grafton captured in photographs the Heavenly Flower, Earth Poem dance performance, a collaboration between Japanese and Khmer apsara dancers. Dancers Hitomi Yamanaka (center) and Om Yuvanna (right) at the ‘Heavenly Flower, Earth Poem’ performance. (photo Colin Grafton)
In August 2018, at RUFA Phnom Penh, Colin Grafton captured in photographs the Heavenly Flower, Earth Poem dance performance, a collaboration between Japanese and Khmer apsara dancers. Dancers Hitomi Yamanaka (center) and Om Yuvanna (right) at the ‘Heavenly Flower, Earth Poem’ performance. (photo Colin Grafton)
1) Colin Grafton with Sopheak Pheana at the Queen Mother Library, Phnom Penh, Sept. 2022 [photo Keiko Kitamura]. 2) Left to right: Robert ‘Bob’ Carleton-Chhaing, Colin Grafton, Keiko Kitamura at the private screening of Just Being There, IFC Phnom Penh, 31 July 2026 [photo ADB].
1) Colin Grafton with Sopheak Pheana at the Queen Mother Library, Phnom Penh, Sept. 2022 [photo Keiko Kitamura]. 2) Left to right: Robert ‘Bob’ Carleton-Chhaing, Colin Grafton, Keiko Kitamura at the private screening of Just Being There, IFC Phnom Penh, 31 July 2026 [photo ADB].
1) Colin Grafton with Sopheak Pheana at the Queen Mother Library, Phnom Penh, Sept. 2022 [photo Keiko Kitamura]. 2) Left to right: Robert ‘Bob’ Carleton-Chhaing, Colin Grafton, Keiko Kitamura at the private screening of Just Being There, IFC Phnom Penh, 31 July 2026 [photo ADB].
Portrait photo by Steve Porte