Charya Burt presents Cambodian dance at Green Music Center

Conceived a decade ago, and in pre-production for the past two years or more, “The Rebirth of Apsara,” the new theater and dance piece created by Cambodian-born dancer and choreographer Charya Burt, is ready for its premiere at last, next week at the Green Music Center in Rohnert Park.

Charya (pronounced “CHARRY-ah”) was 5 years old when the Khmer Rouge, led by the notorious dictator Pol Pot, seized power in her native Cambodia in 1975.

During its four-year reign, the brutal regime claimed the lives of up to 2 million people. Whole families were wiped out through executions, starvation, disease and overwork.

Burt lost her father and two brothers to the Khmer Rouge.

Much of Cambodia’s culture, including its intricate traditional dances, was threatened with extinction. Now, nationally known as a crusader for the preservation of traditional Cambodian dance, Burt, 53, has not forgotten what happened to her family and the country of her childhood.

She settled in the United States in 1993 with her American husband, Rob Burt, who was traveling in Cambodia on his way to Thailand when they met.

“I think it is important to continue to tell the story of what happened. And I think it’s important for the new generations of Cambodia to remind the world that the impact of war is traumatizing,” Burt said.

“It’s also important to understand and remember. We have to understand the history,” she added, “so we can find ways to continue to heal ourselves.”

Funded by a 2021 grant from the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation, based in Menlo Park, the new piece is subtitled “Artistic Lineage, Cultural Resilience and the Resurrection of Cambodian Arts from the Ashes of Genocide."

With text by Kalean Ung and a musical score by her father, Chinary Ung, and co-produced by San Francisco’s New Performance Traditions (which was created by the Paul Dresher Ensemble), the piece is an ambitious collaboration.

As she prepared her creation for performance, Burt visited Cambodia three times in 2022 and 2023, doing research and recruiting three professional performers from that country to join her cast here.

“The Rebirth of Apsara” investigates the relationship between art and war. It explores how the Apsaras, fabled female celestial beings, have embodied the essence of Cambodian culture from ancient mythology to its post-genocide resurrection.

The production features live music performed by Vietnamese multi-instrumentalist Van-Anh Vo and the Paul Dresher/Joel Davel Invented Instrument Duo.

There will be a half-hour post-performance discussion, moderated by Christine Su from the College of San Mateo.

Panelists will include Burt, members of her cast and cultural anthropologist and dance ethnologist Toni Shapiro-Phim of Brandeis University.

A second performance of “The Rebirth of Apsara” is scheduled for 3 p.m. Feb. 4 at the Z Space event center in San Francisco.

Burt is determined that the 1,000-year-old traditions of Cambodian dance should both be preserved and allowed to evolve.

“This is a reimagining of classic dance forms,” Burt explained. “Cambodian dance was almost destroyed, but it survived. It’s an uplifting effort.”

You can reach Staff Writer Dan Taylor at dan.taylor@pressdemocrat.com or 707-521-5243. On X @danarts.