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Earth In Flower: The Divine Mystery of the Cambodian Dance Drama | 
 enlarge | Author: Paul Cravath
Creator: Kent Davis
Publisher: DatASIA, Inc.
Category: Book
List Price: $128.00
Buy New: $99.90
You Save: $28.10 (22%)
New (2) Used (1) from $99.90
Rating:  1 reviews
Sales Rank: 1787913
Media: Hardcover
Edition: 1
Pages: 514
Number Of Items: 1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 3.2
Dimensions (in): 10.2 x 7.3 x 1.3
ISBN: 1934431281
Dewey Decimal Number: 792
EAN: 9781934431283
ASIN: 1934431281
Publication Date: May 30, 2008
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Condition: Proceeds to scholarships for women re-entering the work force. Flawless
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| Editorial Reviews:
Product Description
"A wartime twist of fate resulted in a rare eyewitness account of Southeast Asia's most esoteric female performers: the dancers of the ancient Cambodian ballet. More than 30 years after the Khmer Rouge genocide their intriguing story will be published as Earth in Flower."
Mystical Origins
Since the dawn of recorded history, Khmer royalty nurtured a dance style unique to their Asian kingdom, yet instantly recognizable throughout the world. Spiritually, the graceful dancers embody the essence and strength of the Khmer race.
Analysis of a Hidden Art
Earth in Flower thoroughly covers choreography, musicology, costuming and stagecraft. The surprise is learning how these women profoundly affected Asian history for a millennium, as living goddesses, priestesses, queens, concubines, hostages and diplomats.
Extraordinary Access
A twist of fate gave the author rare access to the formerly sequestered troupe of royal dancers, teachers, theater and archives. Earth in Flower offers new insights into this beautiful art, its long-hidden history, and how the dancers balance the Khmer relationship between heaven and earth.
A Wartime Twist of Fate
In 1970, a military coup deposed King Sihanouk and seized control of the royal dancers. Surrounded by war, scholars sought to document this cultural treasure by engaging researcher Paul Cravath. He arrived as a circle of war gripped the capital city, becoming one of the only Westerners in history to gain firsthand access to the dancers.
Lost Heritage Restored
In April 1975 Phnom Penh fell to the Khmer Rouge, initiating one of the worst genocides in human history. Cravath escaped Phnom Penh only ten days earlier, with his research intact. The archives he accessed were destroyed. Most of the dancers perished in the Killing Fields. Earth in Flower is his historic account of their Cambodian legacy.
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| Customer Reviews:
Apsaras descend to earth September 8, 2008
Roger Warner (Massachusetts)
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
Kent Davis is a force of nature. A Floridian of unstoppable energy, he stormed into Thailand in the 1990s, learned to speak Thai, and soaked in the culture there before drifting into Cambodia like a wayward typhoon. That he fell in love with apsaras carved in the stone of Angkor's wall was, perhaps, inevitable. What is truly amazing is that he unearthed Paul Cravath's classic but little-known thesis on the apsaras and Cambodian dance and then had it printed as a gift to the world at large. Congratulations to Cravath, to Davis, and others involved directly and peripherally in this project. They have done huge favors, selflessly, for Cambodia.
Roger Warner, author of books on Cambodia and Laos
Surviving the Killing Fields: Cambodian Odyssey Shooting at the Moon: The Story of America's Clandestine War in Laos
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