Classical Cambodian dance, like so much of traditional Khmer culture, was nearly destroyed under the Khmer Rouge. Dancers were executed en masse and all written records of the dance were annihilated as well. The Khmer Rouge had come within a hair width of destroying classical dance forever. However, a handful of dancers did survive the holocaust and with those dancers who were safely living overseas, the arduous restoration process began almost immediately following the downfall of the Khmer Rouge. The School of Fine Arts, located in the northern part of Phnom Penh, reopened in 1979 and the slow process of recovering the Cambodian culture began.

The origins of Cambodian dance can be traced to the 9th century. A generous amount of Indian influence added to a combination of Javanese and indigenous culture spawned the creation of Khmer classical dance. Throughout the height of the Angkor Empire dancers gave performances for the king under the full moon. Ancient kings were divine entities and as such the dancers were seen as messengers of the gods. Following the overthrow of Angkor in 1432, Khmer classical dance had affected its development. Tragically, due to the massive content of dance, not all could be recovered from what few written records escaped destruction or from the memories of the survivors of Pol Pot’s genocide.

Khmer Bokator is a very complete martial art, which uses strikes, drags, trapping, and locking for both offense and defense. In Khmer Bokator, the entire body is used as a weapon. Many martial arts use a head, but some of the techniques that used the jaw and even the shoulder muscle as weapons.

Khmer Bokator uses colored Krama (traditional Khmer scarves) instead of belts. The art contains ten animal styles. The five white krama animal forms include: king monkey, lion, elephant, apsara (traditional Hindu sacred nymph), and crocodile. The green krama forms include: duck, crab, horse, bird, and dragon.

During Pol Pot regime, a group of Master San Kim Sean began with 10,000-13,000 people, two year later only 500 were still alive, they were murdered or died of hunger. Although everyone suffered, and anyone, including Khmer Rouge soldiers and cadre were potential victims of execution, certain groups were singled out for extreme persecution and extermination. Among them were the Cham, Cambodian Muslims, Chinese, Vietnamese, educated people, people with classes, anyone with knowledge of English or French, the literate, artisans, and skilled workers. Pol Pot had declared a Year Zero, as a symbol of his desire to break with the past. To this end, he hunted down and killed masters of traditional Khmer arts including singing, dancing, and martial arts.

Khmer Bokator is an ancient art, predating even the 1000 year-old carvings at Angkor Wat. King Jayavaraman VII, the creator of Angkor Wat is depicted in a stance, with the Khmer short sword, the dao. “Do you know why he was such a good king and why he kept Cambodia safe? It was because he was a martial artist. He knew Bokator Khmer.”