{"id":1024,"date":"2014-03-18T07:18:52","date_gmt":"2014-03-18T00:18:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/pharecircus.org\/blog\/?p=1024"},"modified":"2022-09-22T13:33:21","modified_gmt":"2022-09-22T06:33:21","slug":"meet-the-stars-samol-pon","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/pharecircus.org\/meet-the-stars-samol-pon\/","title":{"rendered":"Meet the Stars: Samol PON"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a href=\"https:\/\/pharecircus.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/03\/samol1.jpg\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-1025\" src=\"https:\/\/pharecircus.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/03\/samol1.jpg\" alt=\"samol(1)\" width=\"276\" height=\"413\" \/><\/a>Samol Pon, 27, is from Battambang, and specializes in slackrope, unicycle and juggling at Phare Circus<\/p>\n<p>Interviewing Samol, we found that there was no nonsense and no tiptoeing around his past. Somol suffered through a great deal of domestic violence growing up. His father was an alcoholic who would occasionally become so angry as to leave Samol tied to a tree, while treating his siblings about as kindly.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/pharecircus.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/03\/samol2.jpg\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-1026\" src=\"https:\/\/pharecircus.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/03\/samol2.jpg\" alt=\"samol(2)\" width=\"719\" height=\"480\" \/><\/a>Like many of the children in his village, Samol would pick up rubbish to bring some money home for his family, and there wasn\u2019t much he hoped or dreamed about. Circus was a true saving grace for him as it provided something to build towards\u2026 he began dreaming one day he would be like one of his heroes \u2013 the teachers at Phare\u2019s circus school. They seemed larger than life with their knowledge of these amazing arts and unbelievable talents!<\/p>\n<p>The best part of his job? The public\u2019s applause and their connection to the themes that he and his group have worked so hard to convey. Samol can feel real connection to the struggles of the characters depicted in his Phare performances.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/pharecircus.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/03\/samol3.jpg\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-1027\" src=\"https:\/\/pharecircus.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/03\/samol3.jpg\" alt=\"samol(3)\" width=\"504\" height=\"336\" \/><\/a>He has made it his mission to end the cycle of poverty that he and his family have been in for so many years. He can see this becoming a reality as he is married now and has 2 sons, and he is looking forward to maintaining a successful rice farming business within his family.<\/p>\n<p>Hardest thing about the circus? Thinking about what skill he wants to build most, as one can only train so many skills at a time because they take so much intensive training. It can take a year to perfect even a certain trick in a specific skill area!<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/pharecircus.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/03\/samol4.jpg\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-1028\" src=\"https:\/\/pharecircus.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/03\/samol4.jpg\" alt=\"samol(4)\" width=\"480\" height=\"320\" \/><\/a>Favorite trick? Holding a person in Two-high (where a person stands on you &#8211; usually on shoulders) but on his head, while he rides his unicycle. He doesn\u2019t know many other people that can do the trick!<\/p>\n<p>What tricks are on the way? Samol aspires to be able to do handstands on his tight rope line \u2013 an obvious but extremely challenging feat!<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/pharecircus.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/03\/samol5.jpg\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-1029\" src=\"https:\/\/pharecircus.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/03\/samol5.jpg\" alt=\"samol(5)\" width=\"516\" height=\"344\" \/><\/a>Surprising facts? Samol is an excellent cook\u2026 and he can catch a fish with his bare hands!<\/p>\n<p>Thank you for you for sharing such a raw and honest look at your life, Samol. Your story, hard work and performances have brought tremendous joy to your show-goers, and inspire us to turn our greatest struggles into our greatest triumphs.<\/p>\n<p>Come watch Samol perform while you\u2019re in Siem Reap and see why Phare is voted the best nightlife attraction in town by tourists from around the world. Phare, the Cambodian circus\u2026 Uniquely Cambodian, Daringly Modern!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Samol Pon, 27, is from Battambang, and specializes in slackrope, unicycle and juggling at Phare Circus Interviewing Samol, we found that there was no nonsense and no tiptoeing around his past. Somol suffered through a great deal of domestic violence growing up. His father was an alcoholic who would occasionally become so angry as to [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":1026,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[41],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1024","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-success"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/pharecircus.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1024","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/pharecircus.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/pharecircus.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pharecircus.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pharecircus.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1024"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/pharecircus.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1024\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pharecircus.org\/wp-json\/"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/pharecircus.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1024"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pharecircus.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1024"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pharecircus.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1024"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}