The magic of Khmer classical dance | Prumsodun Ok

翻译人员: Wang Fan 校对人员: KYEONGMIN WOO

"Robam kbach boran,"

“Robam kbach boran (宫廷舞蹈)”，

or the art of Khmer classical dance,

即高棉古典舞，

is more than 1,000 years old.

已经有超过1000年的历史了。

It was developed as a prayer in movement

这种舞蹈被人们用于

for rain and fertility,

祈求雨水和丰收，

and a prosperity that this meant for an agricultural society.

预示农业社会的繁荣。

Dancers who were both men and women

舞者中有男有女，

were offered to temples

他们作为上天与苍生之间的

where they served as living bridges between heaven and earth.

桥梁被供奉给寺庙。

Their dancing bodies carried the prayers of the people up to the gods,

他们用舞蹈将人们的祷告带给神明，

and the will of the deities was delivered back through them

再将神明的启示传达给

to the people and the land.

苍生和大地。

There are a lot of curves in Khmer dance.

高棉舞蹈中有很多曲线，

Our backs are arched,

我们把背拱起，

our knees are bent,

膝盖弯曲，

our toes are curled,

脚尖卷起，

our elbows are hyperflexed

手肘屈曲，

and our fingers are curved backwards.

手指内扣。

All of these curves create a serpentine impression,

这些曲线会让人想起蛇。

and this is important because before the introduction of major religions,

这一点很重要， 因为在宗教进入之前，

Khmers, and people all over the world practiced animism.

高棉人和其他地方的人一样， 都相信万物有灵。

Serpents were especially important in this belief system

在这个信仰体系里， 蛇占有重要的位置。

because in their fluid, curvilinear movement,

它们蜿蜒流畅的前进姿态，

they mimicked the flow of water.

如流水一般，

So to invoke the serpent in your dancing body then

所以用舞蹈表现蛇的姿态其实也是在

was to conjure the image of rivers cutting across the earth:

展现河川塑造大地形态的样子。

inspire the flow of life-giving waters.

让人们联想到孕育生命的水。

As you can see then,

各位可以想见，

Khmer classical dance is a transformation of nature,

高棉古典舞代表着自然的变化，

of both the physical world around us and of our own internal universe.

代表着我们周围以及内心世界的变化。

We have four primary hand gestures that we use.

这种舞蹈主要包括四种手势，

Can we do them together?

我们一起试一试？

Yeah? OK.

可以吗？好的。

This is a tree.

这是一颗树，

That tree will grow,

树会生长，

and then it will have leaves.

它会长出叶子，

After it has leaves,

长出叶子以后。

it'll have flowers,

它会开花，

and after it has flowers,

开完花以后，

it'll have fruit.

它会结果。

That fruit will drop

果实会掉落，

and a new tree will grow.

又会长出新的树。

And in those four gestures

这四种手势

is the cycle of life.

代表了生命的循环。

These four gestures are then used

舞者用这四种手势

to create a whole entire language with which dancers express themselves.

创造了一种可以表达自我的语言。

So for example,

比如

I can say,

我会说：

"I."

“我”。

"I."

“我”。

In dance that would be ...

在舞蹈里就是

"I."

“我”。

Or I can say ...

我也可以说

"Hey you, come here, come here."

“你，过来，过来。”

In dance ...

在舞蹈里，

"Come here,"

“过来。”

or, "Go, go."

或者“去去去。”

(Laughter)

（笑声）

"Go."

“去”。

And everything from ...

既可以表达

love ...

爱，

to sadness,

悲伤，

to --

也可以是

(Stomping)

（跺脚声）

anger

愤怒，

can be expressed through the dance as well.

都可以通过舞蹈去表达。

There's a certain magic

这其中蕴含着一股神奇的力量，

in the way that things are filtered, transformed and put together

事物经过筛选、改变、组合，

to create limitless possibilities in art.

创造出了艺术的无限可能。

The Khmer word for art,

高棉语中的“艺术”一词

silapak,

叫“silapak”，

in fact, at its root, means "magic."

根据词根，意为“魔法”。

The artist --

“艺术家”

the silapakar,

高棉语为“silapakar”

or the silapakarani, then,

或“silapakarani”，

is nothing short of a magician.

意为魔术师。

I am very proud to say

我可以非常自豪地说，

that I belong to a long line of magicians,

自己师承多代魔术师，

from my teacher, Sophiline Cheam Shapiro,

从我的老师夏皮诺 (Sophiline Cheam Shapiro)

to her teachers who were stars in the royal palace,

到我老师的老师们， 她们当时是皇宫里的红人，

to the ancient dancers of Angkor

到吴哥窟的舞蹈先辈，

and to the primal villagers

再到远古村落的居民们，

from which the art form originally took life.

他们让这种艺术形式得以萌发。

That said,

大家知道

our cherished heritage was once almost completely destroyed.

这份珍贵的遗产 曾经差点被彻底摧毁。

If you are wearing glasses,

如果你戴眼镜，

please stand up.

请起立。

If you speak more than one language,

如果你会说两种及以上的语言，

please stand up.

请起立。

If you have light skin,

如果你皮肤很白，

please stand up.

请起立。

Your glasses meant that you could afford health care.

你戴眼镜说明你付得起医保。

That second or third language you spoke indicated your elite education.

会说第二种或第三种语言 说明你接受过良好的教育。

Your light skin meant you didn't have to work beneath the sun.

皮肤白说明你不需要在太阳底下劳作。

Under the Khmer Rouge,

红色高棉

who took over Cambodia from 1975 to 1979,

在1975至1979年间统治了柬埔寨，

we would all be dead now,

要是在那时，我们已经死了，

targeted because of our assumed privilege.

就因为我们身上的特权。

You see,

各位可以想见，

the Khmer Rouge looked to Cambodia,

红色高棉眼中的柬埔寨，

and they saw centuries of rigid inequality.

让他们看到了长达几个世纪、 顽硬不化的不平等。

The king and the few elites around him

国王和他身边的少数精英阶级

had all the pleasures and comforts of the world

极尽全天下的享受于一身，

while the mass majority suffered from backbreaking labor

而民众则要艰苦劳作，

and harsh poverty.

忍受贫穷。

You don't need a history book to see that this is true.

事实显而易见， 都不需要查阅历史书。

The Khmer word for "I,"

高棉语中的

for "me,"

“我”，

is khnhom.

叫做“khnhom”。

This very same word can also mean "slave"

这个词的意思也可以是“奴隶”，

and dancers were in fact known as knhom preah robam,

而舞者则被称作 “knhom preah robam”，

or "slaves of the sacred dance."

意为“神圣舞蹈的奴隶”。

The Khmer Rouge sought to end slavery in Cambodia,

红色高棉本想结束柬埔寨的奴役，

yet somehow they turned everyone into slaves to do it.

到头来却让所有人成了奴隶。

They became the oppression that they sought to end.

他们则成了自己想要结束的压迫力量。

They evacuated the capital

他们把人赶出都城，

and forced people into labor camps.

强迫民众进入劳改营。

They tore families apart

家庭四分五裂，

and brainwashed children against their own parents.

孩子们被洗脑， 反过来对抗自己的父母。

Everywhere, people were dying and being killed,

到处都是奄奄一息的人或尸体，

losing their lives from disease,

他们因为疾病，

overwork,

过度劳作，

execution and starvation.

处决、饥荒而丧命。

The result of this is that an entire third of Cambodia's population was lost

柬埔寨人口因而减少了三分之一，

in less than four years,

而这仅仅用了不到四年的时间，

and in that number were 90 percent of Khmer dance artists.

其中有90%的人 是高棉舞蹈的艺术家。

In other words,

换句话说，

nine out of 10 visions for the tradition and future were lost.

继承传统与未来希望的人 仅剩下十分之一。

Thankfully, however,

但幸运的是，

it was my teacher's teachers,

我老师的老师们

Chea Samy, Soth Sam On and Chheng Phon,

契萨梅、索潘桑和琴朋，

who would lead the revival of the art form

她们让这种艺术形式 重新焕发了光彩，

from the ashes of war and genocide:

从战争和种族屠杀的 残垣断壁中重生：

one student,

一个学生，

one gesture,

一个动作，

one dance at a time.

一套舞蹈，一步一步来。

They wrote the love,

她们将爱，

magic,

魔法，

beauty,

美，

history and philosophy of our lineage

历史和哲学

into the bodies of the next generation.

灌注到下一代人身上。

Nearly 40 years later,

近40年后，

Khmer classical dance has been revived to new heights.

高棉古典舞已经恢复到了新的高度，

Yet somehow it still exists in a vulnerable environment.

但所处环境依旧脆弱。

The disastrous effects of war still haunt Khmer people today.

战争的阴霾仍然挥之不去，

It is written in our bodies,

侵害着我们的身体，

manifested in a genetic passage of PTSD

让我们遗传了创伤后应激障碍，

and in families facing cyclical poverty

一个个家庭始终 逃脱不了贫困的循环，

and immense cultural rifts and language barriers.

文化和语言的传播 则产生了极大的障碍。

Yet beauty is a most resilient thing.

但美拥有极强的适应力。

Beauty has this ability to grow anywhere and everywhere

美可以在任何时间、任何地点

at any time.

生根发芽。

Beauty is what connects people through time and place.

美可以穿越时间和地点， 将人们联系在一起。

Beauty is a liberation from suffering.

美可以让人们拜托苦痛。

As Khmer artists work to revive our culture and country,

柬埔寨艺术家们正努力 复兴他们的文化与国家，

we find that there are many paths in which to move forward into the future.

我们知道，通往未来有无数条路。

And in a tradition where we often don't know the dancer's names,

按传统来说，我们不知道舞者的名字，

who they were,

他们是谁，

what their lives were like,

生活经历怎样，

what they felt,

内心感受如何，

let me propose that we move forward honestly and openly from "khnhom."

我提议，从真诚开放地 看待“khnhom”一词开始，

Khnhom not as in slave,

khnhom 指的不是奴隶，

but as in conscious service.

而是自愿的行为。

Khnhom:

Khnhom：

"I,"

“我”，

"me,"

“我”，

"flowering."

“盛放”。

My name is Prumsodun Ok.

我的名字叫普姆桑顿·奥克，

I am Khmer,

我是高棉人，

and I am American.

也是美国人，

I am the child of refugees,

我是难民的后代，

a creator, a healer,

一个创作者，一位治愈者，

and a builder of bridges.

也是桥梁的建设者。

I am my teacher's first male student

我是老师的第一个男学生，

in a tradition understood by many as female,

舞者在传统上都是由女性传承，

and I founded Cambodia's first gay dance company.

而我则成立了柬埔寨 第一家同性恋舞蹈公司。

I am the incarnation of the beauty, dreams and power

先辈们的美、梦想和力量

of those who came before me.

在我身上得到了显现。

The convergence of past, present and future,

个人与集体的过去、现在和未来

and of individual and collective.

交汇在一起。

Let me then play that ancient and ageless role

接下来我将承担起 艺术家作为信使的角色，

of the artist as messenger,

传达信息，延续 这一亘古不变的使命，

by sharing the words of Chheng Phon

琴朋曾说过：

"A garden with only one type of flower,

“花园里只有一种花，

or flowers of only one color,

或是所有的花只有一种颜色，

is no good."

都不是件好事。”

This is a reminder that our strength,

这提醒着我们，我们的力量，

growth,

发展，

survival

生存

and very existence,

和我们的存在

lies in diversity.

都诞生于多样性之中。

It is, however,

但是，

a message of courage as well.

它同时还传达出了一份勇气。

For a flower does not ask for anyone's permission to bloom.

鲜花的绽放不需要征求别人的应允。

It was born to offer itself to the world.

鲜花生来就可以把自己奉献给世界。

Fearless love is its nature.

其本质，是无所畏惧的爱。

Thank you.

谢谢。

(Applause)

（掌声）