"Robam kbach boran," or the art of Khmer classical dance, is more than 1,000 years old. It was developed as a prayer in movement for rain and fertility, and a prosperity that this meant for an agricultural society. Dancers who were both men and women were offered to temples where they served as living bridges between heaven and earth. Their dancing bodies carried the prayers of the people up to the gods, and the will of the deities was delivered back through them to the people and the land.
「Robam kbach boran」, 也就是高棉古典舞蹈藝術, 有超過一千年的歷史。 它被發展出來時,是種動態的祈禱, 祈求下雨及豐產, 以及農業社會的繁榮昌盛。 舞者,不論男女, 被獻給神廟, 在神廟裡,他們是天堂 與地獄之間的活橋樑。 他們跳舞的身體 將人民的祈禱向上帶給神, 而諸神的旨意會透過他們 被傳回給人民以及大地。
There are a lot of curves in Khmer dance. Our backs are arched, our knees are bent, our toes are curled, our elbows are hyperflexed and our fingers are curved backwards. All of these curves create a serpentine impression, and this is important because before the introduction of major religions, Khmers, and people all over the world practiced animism. Serpents were especially important in this belief system because in their fluid, curvilinear movement, they mimicked the flow of water. So to invoke the serpent in your dancing body then was to conjure the image of rivers cutting across the earth: inspire the flow of life-giving waters.
在高棉舞蹈中有許多的曲線。 我們的背是弧形的, 我們的膝蓋是彎著的, 我們的腳趾是捲曲的, 我們的手肘是過度屈曲的, 我們的手指是向後彎曲的。 所有這些曲線, 創造出一種蛇行的印象, 這點很重要,因為在 主要的宗教出現之前, 高棉人以及世界其他地方的人 信奉的是獸性主義。 在這個信仰系統中, 蛇是特別重要的, 因為牠們流暢、曲線式的移動, 模仿水的流動。 所以,喚醒你舞動身軀裡的蛇, 就是召喚出河流切過地球的景象: 鼓舞生命之流來供應水。
As you can see then, Khmer classical dance is a transformation of nature, of both the physical world around us and of our own internal universe. We have four primary hand gestures that we use. Can we do them together? Yeah? OK.
如各位所見, 高棉古典舞蹈是在轉換大自然, 包括我們身邊的實體世界, 以及我們自己內在的宇宙。 我們用的手勢,主要有四種。 我們能一起做嗎? 好嗎?好。
This is a tree. That tree will grow, and then it will have leaves. After it has leaves, it'll have flowers, and after it has flowers, it'll have fruit. That fruit will drop and a new tree will grow. And in those four gestures is the cycle of life.
這是一棵樹。 這棵樹會長大, 接著它會長出葉子。 在它長出葉子之後, 它會開花, 在它開花之後, 它會結果。 果實會掉落, 然後會長出一棵新的樹。 在這四個手勢當中的, 就是生命的循環。
These four gestures are then used to create a whole entire language with which dancers express themselves. So for example, I can say, "I." "I." In dance that would be ... "I." Or I can say ... "Hey you, come here, come here." In dance ... "Come here," or, "Go, go."
這四個手勢接著被用來 創造整個完整的語言, 讓舞者能用這語言表達他們自己。 比如, 我可以說, 「我。」 「我。」 在舞蹈中就會是…… 「我。」 或是我可以說: 「嘿,你,過來這裡,過來這裡。」 在舞蹈中…… 「過來這裡。」 或:「走開,走開。」
(Laughter)
(笑聲)
"Go." And everything from ... love ... to sadness, to --
「走開。」 而一切,從…… 愛…… 到悲傷, 到……
(Stomping)
(重踩)
anger can be expressed through the dance as well.
憤怒, 都能透過舞蹈來表現。
There's a certain magic in the way that things are filtered, transformed and put together to create limitless possibilities in art. The Khmer word for art, silapak, in fact, at its root, means "magic." The artist -- the silapakar, or the silapakarani, then, is nothing short of a magician. I am very proud to say that I belong to a long line of magicians, from my teacher, Sophiline Cheam Shapiro, to her teachers who were stars in the royal palace, to the ancient dancers of Angkor and to the primal villagers from which the art form originally took life.
有一種魔法潛藏在各種事物 被過濾、轉化、 組合在一起的方式當中, 在藝術中創造出無限的可能性。 在高棉語中,藝術叫做「silapak」, 事實上,原始的意思就是「魔法」。 藝術家叫做「silapakar」, 或是「silapakarani」, 就是個魔法師。 我能很驕傲地說, 我隸屬於一個悠久的魔法師家族, 從我的老師,索佛琳希姆莎普羅, 到她那些在皇宮中擔任 明星舞者的老師們, 再到吳哥窟的古老舞者, 再到原始村民, 賦予這個藝術形式生命的原始村民。
That said, our cherished heritage was once almost completely destroyed. If you are wearing glasses, please stand up. If you speak more than one language, please stand up. If you have light skin, please stand up. Your glasses meant that you could afford health care. That second or third language you spoke indicated your elite education. Your light skin meant you didn't have to work beneath the sun. Under the Khmer Rouge, who took over Cambodia from 1975 to 1979, we would all be dead now, targeted because of our assumed privilege. You see, the Khmer Rouge looked to Cambodia, and they saw centuries of rigid inequality. The king and the few elites around him had all the pleasures and comforts of the world while the mass majority suffered from backbreaking labor and harsh poverty. You don't need a history book to see that this is true.
但是, 我們珍惜的遺產 曾一度幾乎全被摧毀。 如果你戴眼鏡, 請站起來。 如果你會說超過一種語言, 請站起來。 如果你的膚色白皙, 請站起來。 你的眼鏡意味著 你負擔得起健康照護。 會說第二或第三語言, 表示你受過菁英教育。 白皙的膚色意味著 你無須在太陽底下工作。 在紅色高棉統治下, (註:柬埔寨共產黨及其追隨者) 紅色高棉在 1975 年到 1979 年間佔領了柬埔寨, 在他們統治下,我們早就都沒命了, 因為我們繼承的特權而成為目標。 你們知道, 紅色高棉看著柬埔寨時, 他們看到的是數世紀來 堅固不變的不平等。 國王,以及他身邊的幾個菁英, 有世界上所有的樂趣與安逸, 而多數大眾都在做非常辛勞的苦工, 飽受貧困之苦。 你不需要看史書也知道這是真實的。
The Khmer word for "I," for "me," is khnhom. This very same word can also mean "slave" and dancers were in fact known as knhom preah robam, or "slaves of the sacred dance." The Khmer Rouge sought to end slavery in Cambodia, yet somehow they turned everyone into slaves to do it. They became the oppression that they sought to end. They evacuated the capital and forced people into labor camps. They tore families apart and brainwashed children against their own parents. Everywhere, people were dying and being killed, losing their lives from disease, overwork, execution and starvation. The result of this is that an entire third of Cambodia's population was lost in less than four years, and in that number were 90 percent of Khmer dance artists. In other words, nine out of 10 visions for the tradition and future were lost.
高棉語中的「我(主詞)」 或「我(受詞)」 是「khnhom」。 這個字的另一個意思就是「奴隸」, 而舞者其實被稱為是 「knhom preah robam」, 意思是「神聖舞蹈的奴隸」。 紅色高棉尋求的是 終止柬埔寨的奴隸制度, 但不知怎麼的,他們卻 為此把每個人都變為了奴隸。 他們變成了他們想要終止的迫害。 他們撤空了首都, 強迫人民去勞改營。 他們拆散了家庭, 把孩童洗腦,讓他們 對抗自己的父母。 不論何處都有人死亡、被殺害, 他們喪命的原因包括疾病、 工作過度、 處決及饑餓。 結果是不到四年, 柬埔寨就減少了三分之一的人口, 其中包括了 90% 的 高棉舞蹈藝術家。 換言之, 就這樣失去了十分之九
Thankfully, however,
對傳統及未來的憧憬和夢想。
it was my teacher's teachers, Chea Samy, Soth Sam On and Chheng Phon, who would lead the revival of the art form from the ashes of war and genocide: one student, one gesture, one dance at a time. They wrote the love, magic, beauty, history and philosophy of our lineage into the bodies of the next generation.
然而,謝天謝地, 我老師的老師們, 奇兒塞米、索斯沙姆昂、和臣朋, 她們領導著這個藝術形式, 從戰爭與大屠殺的灰燼中重生: 一次一名學生, 一次一個手勢, 一次一支舞。 他們將愛、 魔法、 美、 歷史以及哲學的血統, 寫入了下一代的身體中。
Nearly 40 years later, Khmer classical dance has been revived to new heights. Yet somehow it still exists in a vulnerable environment. The disastrous effects of war still haunt Khmer people today. It is written in our bodies, manifested in a genetic passage of PTSD and in families facing cyclical poverty and immense cultural rifts and language barriers.
接近四十年後, 高棉古典舞蹈的重生達到了新高點。 但它卻仍然存在於 一個脆弱的環境中。 戰爭的災難性影響 至今仍纏著高棉人。 它被銘刻在我們的身體中, 在創傷後壓力症候群的基因傳遞中, 以及在面對循環式貧困、 巨大文化裂口、 及語言障礙的家庭中呈現出來。
Yet beauty is a most resilient thing. Beauty has this ability to grow anywhere and everywhere at any time. Beauty is what connects people through time and place. Beauty is a liberation from suffering. As Khmer artists work to revive our culture and country, we find that there are many paths in which to move forward into the future. And in a tradition where we often don't know the dancer's names, who they were, what their lives were like, what they felt, let me propose that we move forward honestly and openly from "khnhom." Khnhom not as in slave, but as in conscious service. Khnhom: "I," "me," "flowering."
但「美」是最有恢復力的。 「美」有能力 在任何地方、所有地方、 任何時候都能成長。 「美」穿過時間與空間 將人連結起來。 「美」是苦難中的解放。 當高棉藝術家努力復興 我們的文化與國家時, 我們發現,有很多條路 可以向未來前進。 在傳統中,我們通常 不知道舞者的名字, 他們是誰, 他們的人生是什麼樣子, 他們感覺到什麼。 讓我提議,我們從「khnhom」 開始誠實且開放地向前行。 這裡的 khnhom 不是指奴隸, 而是指有意識的服務。 khnhom: 「我(主詞)。」 「我(受詞)。」 「開花。」
My name is Prumsodun Ok. I am Khmer, and I am American. I am the child of refugees, a creator, a healer, and a builder of bridges. I am my teacher's first male student in a tradition understood by many as female, and I founded Cambodia's first gay dance company. I am the incarnation of the beauty, dreams and power of those who came before me. The convergence of past, present and future, and of individual and collective.
我的名字叫普朗蘇東奧克。 我是高棉人, 我是美國人。 我是難民的孩子, 我是一名創作者、治療者、 以及造橋者。 我是我老師的第一位男學生, 許多人認為這是個女性的傳統, 而我成立了柬埔寨的 第一個同志舞團。 我是前人的美麗、夢想、 及力量的化身。 我是過去、現在、及未來的交集, 我是個人,也是集體。
Let me then play that ancient and ageless role of the artist as messenger, by sharing the words of Chheng Phon "A garden with only one type of flower, or flowers of only one color, is no good." This is a reminder that our strength, growth, survival and very existence, lies in diversity. It is, however, a message of courage as well. For a flower does not ask for anyone's permission to bloom. It was born to offer itself to the world. Fearless love is its nature.
讓我扮演那古老且永恆的角色: 身為信差的藝術家, 讓我來分享臣朋的話: 「如果花園中只有一種花, 或是只有一種顏色的花, 就不是好花園。」 這是在提醒我們,我們的力量、 成長、 生存、 以及特有的存在, 都在於多樣性。 然而,它也是個關於勇氣的訊息。 因為一朵花並不需要 任何人的允許才能綻放。 它生出來,就是要將 它自己獻給世界的。 它的天性就是無懼的愛。
Thank you.
謝謝。
(Applause)
(掌聲)