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The Record
Published February 17, 2007
Anna Kaplan
Record Staff Writer
UOP to premiere Cambodian dance film
A film documenting Southeast Asian youth from Stockton getting in touch with their culture by learning traditional dance will premiere Sunday at University of the Pacific.
The 40-minute documentary, "The Rhythmic Quilt Dance Project," features interviews and footage of dance classes by the Asian Pacific Self Development and Residential Association, which started in 1989 to assist the low-income, primarily Cambodian residents of the Park Village apartment complex in Stockton.
For Sovanna Koeurt, APSARA's executive director, it was important to include cultural programming in the group's services to help bridge the generation gap between Cambodian adults and children who grow up in the United States.
Preview
"We would like to teach the next generation their identity and where their parents are coming from," she said. "I hope this can strengthen the relationship between the parents and the kids.
"The spirit of a culture is always in the dancing," Koeurt added. "The spirit shows through the costumes and the way they dance."
"Our culture is very family oriented," film director Sophoan Sorn said. "Here, if you dance together, you stay together.
"You have to be very community minded, very focused," the Stockton resident added. "It's not something you learn overnight. Your body grows with it."
The Pacific screening is sponsored by the university's Jacoby Center for Public Service and Civic Leadership, which makes an effort to show as many documentary films about the Stockton area as possible, center director Bob Benedetti said.
"It's important for the community, as well as the university campus, to realize the quality of cultural offerings in this area," he said. "Our students are very interested in film, they like to go to the movies, so this is one way we can bring the town to them."
Contact reporter Anna Kaplan at (209) 546-8294 or akaplan@recordnet.com.
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