Embrace
In Siem Reap, take the opportunity to watch a performance by graceful
Apsara dancers. This Khmer classical dance, known as Cambodia’s royal ballet, was almost wiped out under Pol Pot’s murderous Khmer Rouge regime. The dancers make their hand gestures, with fingers and wrists flexed and flared at extreme angles, look easy but it takes years of training.
Apsara dancing incorporates 1,500-plus hand gestures in a repertoire of stories that illuminate the origins of the Khmer people.