Sophiline Shapiro, right, helps dancer Pum Molyta with her hand movements during practice at the Khmer Arts Academy in 2008 in Takmao, Cambodia. (Jeff Gritchen/Press-Telegram)12/15/2009
By Greg Mellen, Staff Writer
Long Beach Press Telegram (California, USA)
LONG BEACH - Sophiline Shapiro is not unaccustomed to being a trailblazer.
A survivor of the Cambodian genocide, she was one of the first choreographers to help bring Cambodian Classical dance back from near extinction during the cultural cleansing of the Khmer Rouge.
She was one of the first Cambodians to set up a classical dancing school and academy in the United States, beginning in a small studio in her living room.
And on Tuesday, she became one of the first two artists named as USA Knight Fellows.
Shapiro will receive an unrestricted $50,000 grant from United States Artists, as part of a $1 million grant from the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation. Shapiro will also receive a $5,000 grant for workshops, talks and other events.
The other winner is Philadelphia ceramicist Kukulin Velarde.
Shapiro was the co-founder in 2002 of the Khmer Arts Academy in Long Beach, which offers dance and other Cambodian cultural and arts training to local youths.
The academy also plays host to a Salon Series of monthly performances and discussions of Southeast Asian Arts.
Coincidentally, the series will conclude its first season Saturday with a performance of a Shapiro dance titled "Seasons of Migration." That performance will be staged at the Khmer Arts Academy Studio, 1364 Obispo Ave. at 7 p.m.
Shapiro also operates the Khmer Arts Theater in Cambodia 15 kilometers south of Phnom Penh where she now spends most of her time. There at the Center for Culture and Vipassana, she directs and choreographs a professional troupe of dancers who are graduates of the Royal University.
Shapiro has gained international acclaim for her work and her troupe has toured extensively from Europe to the United States.
Earlier this year, Shapiro was named a 2009 National Heritage Fellow and was given a $25,000 award for artistic excellence and support and contributions to folk and ethnic arts.
greg.mellen@presstelegram.com, 562-499-1291
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