Children of the Refugees
Khannia Ok is one of the dancers featured in Charya’s Children of the Refugees Project with the University of California’s Critical Refugee Studies Collective. Here she is with Charya and her mother in a photo taken right after she and her mother were interviewed for this project at Khmer Arts Academy Studio in Long Beach, California, 2017.
Children of the Refugees Dance Rehearsal:
Here is a rehearsal sample of the Children of the Refugees dance Charya is creating with the Khmer Arts dancers at their studio in Long Beach, 2018.
Jory Horn, from Charya’s Children of the Refugees
“… The key word (referencing) refugee in association with my experience is diaspora and everything that is rooted within the umbrella of a diaspora. You’re taking refugees being born to parents who experience trauma… They lived through it but I’m living through it again because of how they were treated – so all of the things they experienced – the extremes of stress, the extremes of anxiety – it’s like at a skyrocket level…” Jory Horn, 2018.
Khannia Ok, from Charya’s Children of the Refugees
“…There are a lot of powerful and empowering women characters in Khmer dance. And, so dance has really become, throughout the 16 years that I’ve been dancing, my self defining tool…”
Children of the Refugees explores how Cambodian refugees view time and space and the impacts this has had on their children. The studies’ subjects are all aspiring Cambodian dancers, most former students of Charya Burt, who have overcome tremendous obstacles to become successful individuals. Through documentation of family histories, the study aims to gain insight into how the subjects’ identities have been shaped by their families’ refugee experience. This study was made possible by a University of California Critical Refugee Studies Collective grant for 2017-2018. Charya hopes to continue find funding support to develop this work into a full-length dance production.