Rare Photos of Dancers From the Royal Ballet of Cambodia -- By Trudy Garfunkel

MEMORY PRESERVED: GLASS PLATES PHOTOGRAPHS OF THE ROYAL CAMBODIAN DANCERS, an exhibit of rare images of five principal women dancers from the Royal Ballet of Cambodia, will be on display in the United States for the first time at the New York Public Library for the Performing Arts at Lincoln Center (Shelby Cullom Davis Museum, Plaza Corridor Gallery). The exhibition runs from March 28^th to May 11^th, 2013.

MEMORY PRESERVED is only one of scores of performances, lectures, panels, films, and exhibits that will celebrate Cambodian arts, culture and humanities from April 6^th to May 31^st during New York City's "Season of Cambodia" festival. Other cultural and educational organizations to take part in this celebration include The Asia Society, Brooklyn Academy Of Music, Works & Process at the Guggenheim, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Mark Morris Dance Group, The Joyce Theater, and the Rubin Museum of Art.

Recently rediscovered, catalogued, restored, and digitized, these images from 1927 capture the dancers performing the postures and gestures from the classical canon. French scholar George Groslier, who was the director of the National Museum of Cambodia, initiated the project to preserve the memory of the ballet, which he believed was endangered. The exhibition is an initiative of the Ecole Francais d'Extreme Orient (EFEO) and the National Museum of Cambodia, with support from UNESCO and the Institut Francais Cambodge.

On Tuesday, April 30^th, 6:30 p.m., the Performing Arts Library will host a talk with Princess Norodom Buppha Devi and Peter Sellars. Her Royal Highness, Cambodia's esteemed prima ballerina of the 1960s and a pioneer in the revival and preservation of Cambodian classical court dances, will discuss her art with theater and opera director Peter Sellars. This program, which will include film excerpts, is presented in conjunction with "Season of Cambodia" and the Royal Ballet of Cambodia's presentation of "The Legend of Apsara Mera" at the Brooklyn Academy Of Music (May 2-4).

For further information on other events during the "Season of Cambodia" see www.seasonofcambodia.org.

The New York Public Library for the Performing Arts at Lincoln Center

Exhibition Hours: Monday/Thursday: Noon to 8 p.m.; Tuesday/Wednesday/Friday/Saturday: noon to 6 p.m. Closed on Sunday.

Free admission to all exhibits and programs.

A passionate and enthusiastic dance lover with other interests in books, theater, music and architecture. I have served as the director of the docent program at the New York City Ballet. I am interested in all facets of dance, and do not limit myself to only one dance brand, as I call it. This encompasses ballet, modern, folk and whatever else there is. Call me eclectic.