lEft Epic Encounters
performers rehearse
a scene from Come
Back Brighter,
choreographed by a
Khmer dancerabovE Students with
disability learn to
dance in Epic Arts’
“When I was growing up, people didn’t call daily classesme by my real name. People in my community
gave me a new name: Broken Leg,” says ex-
student Savun Ley, 21, in a blog post. “I knew
I couldn’t do traditional physical work, so I
made it my mission to study hard and get good
knowledge. I could prove all the mean people
wrong, and I would be able to support myself.”
Ley, now a theatre performer with the
organisation’s production company, Epic
Encounters, adds: “Before, I used to think that
I would fall over if I tried to dance – or that my
leg would break! Now I’ve graduated from the
course, I’m much more confident.”
Like Ley, many Epic Arts graduates get
employed by Epic Encounters – the first theatre
company in Southeast Asia to feature a fully
inclusive cast. The company tours nationally
and internationally in countries like the UK,
performing productions that use a combination
of dance, film and archived footage. Their
flagship piece, Come Back Brighter, tells the
story of Cambodia’s Khmer Rouge regime and
the country’s modern history, while a recent
show, Buffalo Boy, is based on the life of an
Epic Arts student with cerebral palsy.
Encouragingly, in her three years there,
Holden has noticed that audiences of
Epic Encounters shows often leave with
changed perceptions about disability and
what those with disability can achieve. The
programme’s success also manifests in other
ways: Performers are armed with newfound
confidence, and even the initially withdrawn
café baristas open up into outgoing, charismatic
individuals serving a mean cuppa. ag“Before, I used to think
that I would fall over if I
tried to dance – or that
my leg would break!”
Savun Ley, Epic Arts graduate