Dina is a circus artist with a secret talent\u2026 in the kitchen!<\/p>\n
\u00a0By Emily Martin<\/em><\/p>\n How did you first come to Phare?<\/strong><\/p>\n I got to know Phare through my Uncle who was actually one of the founders. At that time I was in Battambang and I was participating at public school but there were many problems in many areas of Cambodia. In the rural areas where everybody participates in the rice harvesting there aren\u2019t many people attending school, including teachers a lot of the time. And so I had this free time that made me think that I could join the circus activity.<\/p>\n Was your family a farming family?<\/strong><\/p>\n Yeah my father and mother were farmers and they had 2 hectors of rice fields and so there was this problem of the teachers not coming because they were working in the rice fields but also myself being busy at home, helping with harvesting sometimes or doing some work at home for them. Every kind of small work.<\/p>\n Why did you think it was a good idea to join circus?<\/strong><\/p>\n So there were different departments at Phare at that time. There was music, theatre, painting and visual arts and so my first desire was for circus. So I tried the circus, but knowing that if I wasn\u2019t good at circus I could have tried something else and then something else. I wasn\u2019t sure about this but it was my first preference.<\/p>\n Did you have a reason why?<\/strong><\/p>\n Yeah it was the more impressive activity for me because the jumps themselves aren\u2019t something that you see in your everyday life. It was something totally different to my ordinary habits and also I could see all the people, already practicing, making amazing things and I wanted to see if I could be able to do that. And they also had beautiful bodies thanks to the practice and that made it very attractive to me.<\/p>\n What has it given you?<\/strong><\/p>\n It has given me the opportunity to change my life condition and the one of my family because I wouldn\u2019t have any other opportunity to earn such a good living so fast with another job. There was always one part which I would keep for me but also one part which I would give to my family. Coming from a poor family that\u2019s very important to me \u2013 this opportunity to better the standards of living for them. Then secondly it\u2019s opened my mind a lot because it\u2019s given me so many opportunities to travel. That\u2019s very important for me, that I knew some foreigners because they have a completely new view on the world and on how to live life. For me it\u2019s this connection with the foreigners and being able to perform abroad and having the opportunity to be on stage. All these things have really helped to open my mind and get me out of a narrow vison of a Cambodian life.<\/p>\n [metaslider id=3898]<\/p>\n So where have you travelled?<\/strong><\/p>\n France, Italy, Spain, Belgium, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, Vietnam, Japan, Germany\u2026 many places!<\/p>\n What is it like for you to travel?<\/strong><\/p>\n \u00a0I\u2019m extremely happy and I feel extremely lucky that thanks to the circus skills I was able to go out there. There might not have been other ways for me to go I so many different countries. It\u2019s all thanks to the circus. I would never have imagined that when I was little.<\/p>\n Do you have any rituals before performing?<\/strong><\/p>\n I don\u2019t have specific tricks but I respect the schedule which we have which is a rehearsal in the afternoon and then we really take time before the show, have a small break and snack, take a shower and the really rest. That\u2019s 1 hour before the show. Then we do make up and costumes and then concentrate on the whole group. I am very careful about keeping that.<\/p>\n How would you describe your role in the show?<\/strong><\/p>\n I actually have 4 different characters.<\/p>\n What is it like for you to portray that Khmer Rouge character?<\/strong><\/p>\n When I play this role I really feel myself becoming one of them, becoming one of the Khmer Rouge soldiers. I really feel my body acting and transforming in every cell, as this slaughterer. I want to kill people with no mercy, I really put myself into that and it scares me sometimes.<\/p>\n I still can master it though, it\u2019s a theatre technique which means you can switch from a Khmer Rouge character to suddenly a very young child, innocent. I have this ability with theatre techniques to switch from one another.<\/p>\n How do feel telling the story which is how Phare came to be?<\/strong><\/p>\n For me it\u2019s amazing that we have this opportunity to tell this story of the construction of the structure which put the show together. For me it\u2019s very emotional to know that the audience will see the show but also learn through that show bout the evolution, both the life of the performers themselves.<\/p>\n Who do you live with here in Siem Reap?<\/strong><\/p>\n When ai perform I go and stay with the other artists at the Artist villa. When I am not performing I dot go back to Battambang like the others, I stay in Siem Reap in my uncle\u2019s house. There are 8 of us living there. I don\u2019t meet him so much when I\u2019m there though because of my working hours\u2026<\/p>\n When you\u2019re not performing what are you doing?<\/strong><\/p>\n I learn English and French in the mornings\u2026 actually even if I perform Sokha at night time I will go to these classes. And in the afternoons when I\u2019m not performing I help my uncle\u2019s family with work at home.<\/p>\n What do you like to do to relax when you\u2019re not working?<\/strong><\/p>\n I like to listen to music, I like to read books and a love to cook, that\u2019s my big speciality\u2026 and it\u2019s something I would like to carry on to the future after circus.<\/p>\n [metaslider id=3902]<\/p>\n Tell us more!<\/strong><\/p>\n My main motivation to become a cook is because I like to eat good food! To be able to eat good food, and to be able to really get what you like I think the best solution is to cook it yourself because when you eat outside you\u2019re never 100% satisfied with what you get because only you yourself knows the best of what you like. I like to do that and I like to make it very personal. I can master some very common Cambodian food like frying or making soups, but I also like making things I have never made before and just do it with my own heart. Sometimes it comes out really nicely\u2026<\/p>\n What\u2019s your favourite meal to make?<\/strong><\/p>\n One very easy thing I like to do is just fry an egg with very special spices and very special other ingredients. It\u2019s not an omelette, I just put an entire egg in the pan with oil and then I just have these little things that make it delicious and then I flip it over and I continue to fry it on the other side. It\u2019s so simple but is delicious!<\/p>\n It\u2019s my own invention, and I think I make it very nicely now\u2026 I have my tricks!<\/p>\n So that\u2019s your plan for the future, be a cook?<\/strong><\/p>\n Really I want to be able to have a steady job after the circus where I can live a comfortable life and have a happy family, as well as put away some savings. Then around the age of 50 I would like to retire and to travel. Travel is very important for me, I want to be able to take my family to see something else apart from Cambodia.<\/p>\n\n\t\t\n