Cambodian Dance: All Ages (Tuition-Free)
Adult Tuition-Free Class | Registration opens Monday, July 13, 2026 8:00 AM EDT
This class teaches the ancient dance forms once practiced exclusively for the royal court of Phnom Penh in Cambodia. Court dance teaches the ancient stories of gods, demons, and heroes, and the symbolic meaning of gestures, costumes, and masks. The class requires stretching and exercises in breathing and balance. Class is conducted both in English and Khmer.
The first hour of class is designed for beginners. All ages, including children, are welcome. The following 90 minutes are geared towards more advanced students. Participants can stay for the entire 2.5 hours.
Please note: This tuition-free classes does not require an active Fleisher membership. Open to all.
Please note: There is no class scheduled for 10/31/2026 as Fleisher prepares for our Day of the Dead event on 11/1/2026. Please join us!
- All supplies are included with registration.
Chamroeun Yin
He was barely settled in Philadelphia, when Cambodian community leaders approached Chamroeun Yin, asking if he would be willing to teach Khmer classical dance to young people. His reputation as an artist and as a person had preceded him.
For Mr. Yin, teaching Khmer dance does not mean training individual dancers, for culture cannot be confined to knowledge of artistic traditions alone. Teaching in a Diaspora situation becomes an enormous responsibility, as it involves not just transmitting technique but conveying values, respect, history, a whole way of behaving, a way of maintaining a sense of responsibility to one’s community. Mr. Yin recognizes there are many other talented Khmer artists and dancers, but he feels called to teach. “If you care about culture you have to do that, you have to sacrifice something…. It’s not only me in Philadelphia who knows how to dance. But if I don’t do it, maybe all the children here in Philadelphia, they’re not going to know anything about culture.” There is a Khmer proverb, he notes: “If you put the cat [to] stay with the dog, the cat can follow the dog.
Mr. Yin also feels obligated to be “right” in his teaching. His students will reflect, not only on him, but on his own teachers – and his own teachers remind him of this. He researches past dance styles and movements, piecing together information from peoples’ memories, pictures, available books, all so that he can be as sure as possible that he is passing on information that is as “true” as he can make it be.
Learn more about Chamroeun Yin here.