Original Works

Charya’s original works and have been presented across the United States from the Jacob’s  Pillow Dance Festival in Massachusetts to the Oregon Shakespeare Festival. Her original works includes:

Of Spirits Intertwined (World Premiere at the San Francisco Opera House as part of the 40th Annual San Francisco Ethnic Dance Festival, 2018)

Of Spirits Intertwined explores the ways devotion and reverence is extended to ancestral spirits. The dancers ask the spirits for their continued blessing and guidance by offering beautiful movements and gestures.

Silenced (World Premiere at California State University Studio Theatre, 2018)

Silenced is a dance theatre piece honoring the life of one of Cambodia’s most iconic singers, Ros Sereysothea, who perished at the hands of the Khmer Rouge. It was created to connect past to the present in ways that celebrate ancient Khmer beauty while helping to reconcile Cambodia’s recent tragic past. The piece joins a variety of musical forms including pin peat and traditional Khmer music to represent Sothea’s musical and cultural foundations, Cambodian pop music from the 1960’s both recorded and sung live to evoke the vibrancy of her life during the Golden Age of Cambodian pop music and original compositions for guitar used to symbolize her shattered life under the Khmer Rouge.

Cinnabar Heart (World Premiere at San Diego State University Experimental Theatre, 2017)

Charya choreographed a dreamlike dance for Ung Chinary’s magical composition Cinnabar Heart where Charya drifts through time and space in an abstract, spiritual world.

Heavenly Garden (World Premiere at the Palace of Fine Arts as part of the San Francisco Ethnic Dance Festival, 2016)

Heavenly Garden is a classical dance piece that brings to life the ancient concept of heavenly perfection. Set in an idyllic garden, the piece depicts the journey of a princess and her maids in search of eternal beauty and how they embrace the majestic yet peaceful nature that surrounds them.

Blossoming Antiquities: Rodin’s Encounter with Celestial Dancers of Cambodia (World Premiere at San Francisco’s Palace of the Legion of Honor Theatre, 2013)

A remarkable conversation about form and grace began in 1906, when the centuries-old Cambodian Royal Ballet performed in Paris and captivated the sculptor Auguste Rodin. Charya responds to Rodin’s numerous sketches—and converses with dancers in her own lineage—performing graceful traditional Khmer dance in full traditional attire. Composer Alexis Alrich, cellist Ruth Lane, a Cambodian Pin Peat orchestra, and visual artist Mario Uribe join the conversation.

The Rebirth of Apsara (A Work-In-Progress presented at SomArts Cultural Center Theatre, San Francisco, 2013)

The Rebirth of Apsara explores the notion of memories and how they shape an individual’s experience of life, using traditional Cambodian and modern dance vocabularies as vehicles. Against the backdrop of tumultuous modern Cambodian history, Rebirth pieces together sensory imprints and fragmented stories unearthed from Charya’s memories in a kaleidoscopic manner achieved by Larry Reed’s one-of-a-kind shadowcasting technique.

Caressing Nostalgia (World Premiere at Yerba Buena Center for the Arts, Novellus, Theatre as part of the San Francisco Ethnic Dance Festival, 2011)

Caressing Nostalgia is a new Cambodian dance piece that pushes the boundaries of tradition by transforming classical gestures and movements. A live cello plays original Western classical music as Charya sings Khmer poetry. It depicts an artist’s sentimental yearning for a treasured past.

Intersections Through Time (World Premiere at the Palace of Fine Arts as part of the San Francisco Ethnic Dance Festival, 2010)

Intersections Through Time explores Charya’s transformation from the isolation she felt for her art when she first arrived in the United States to the newfound artistic possibilities upon which she now embarks.

Of Spirits Intertwined: Three Cultures (World Premiere presented at SomArts Cultural Center Theatre, San Francisco, 2009)

Of Spirits Intertwined is a collaborative work exploring cultural connections with classical Indian and Japanese dance. The piece is drawn from their traditional dance vocabularies: Cambodian Classical dance, Classical Indian Odissi, and Classical Japanese dance, exploring different rituals of how dancers make offerings to their spiritual ancestors.

Blue Roses (Commissioned by World Arts West, the piece had its World Premiere at the Palace of Fine Arts as part of the San Francisco Ethnic Dance Festival, 2007)

Inspired by The Glass Menagerie by Tennessee Williams, Blue Roses explores the life of a Khmer princess who lives in her own imaginary world. To mask her unhappiness, she surrounds herself with things that are familiar. When she tries to experience a new life, she becomes frightened by the unknown eventually retreating back into her safe, familiar world.

Forever My Ancestors (World Premiere at the Palace of Fine Arts as part of the San Francisco Ethnic Dance Festival, 2006)

Forever My Ancestors was created as an ode to Charya’s Khmer ancestors. The dance is an offering and tribute to the dance ancestors who carefully preserved and passed down the precious Khmer tradition of classical Cambodian dance.

The Magic Peacocks (World Premiere at The Elsie Allen Burt Theatre, Santa Rosa, 2003)

Inspired by Cambodian folk tradition, The Magic Peacocks, explores love and loss in nature.