A practice shaped by many teachers
I began training at nine. I was shy, but traditional music made me want to move; once I heard it, the wish to dance was stronger than my shyness.
No single teacher made me: many did. Each teacher refined something different, and those lessons have become part of how I understand movement and how I teach it.
“I can do the same movement again and again and still enjoy how different it feels each time.”
That attention to repetition is at the centre of my work. Cambodian classical dance asks for patience, detail and a willingness to return to the same movement with a more attentive body.
My formal education grew alongside that practice. I completed a bachelor’s degree in classical dance choreography at the Royal University of Fine Arts and a bachelor’s degree in education at the Institute of Foreign Languages, Royal University of Phnom Penh. Since 2017, the Royal University of Fine Arts has also been my place of work.
Practice
The Neang role
I perform the Neang, or female, role. Its delicacy is not simply a matter of appearance: the dancer must build character through exact movement, emotion and eye contact.
The role has a rich language of costume and crowns, with particular forms belonging to particular dances. Learning that language takes the same patience as learning the movement itself.
Metamorphosis
A work entrusted to me
In 2018, Princess Norodom Buppha Devi entrusted me with one of the two principal roles in Neang Wadhana Devi — Metamorphosis — her final work. Her trust remains part of how I understand my responsibility to the dance and to the teachers who carried it forward.
The story also gave me lessons beyond performance: the importance of trust, perseverance, forgiveness, respect and accepting another person as they are. It asks us to think carefully instead of allowing jealousy or provocation to decide for us.
The years of creation and rehearsal became part of The Perfect Motion (ទេពហត្ថា), Xavier de Lauzanne’s documentary about the work and the longer history of the Royal Ballet of Cambodia. I appear in the film as a dancer and interview participant.
Preservation
Teaching and researching the dance
At the Royal University of Fine Arts, my work extends beyond performance. I have helped research, record and compile material on Cambodian classical dance with senior teachers, learning from both their knowledge and their memories.
I have also demonstrated historical gestures and costumes in public scholarship, including the Center for Khmer Studies presentation King Sisowath’s Dancers: Moving Archives and Embodied History.
Preservation is active work. The dance must be performed, taught and documented, but people also need opportunities to learn its roots through research, workshops and close attention to the practice.
In 2025 I completed Choreomundus, the international master’s programme in dance knowledge, practice and heritage, on an Erasmus Mundus scholarship. I chose the programme because it studies dance as intangible cultural heritage across anthropology, heritage studies and technology. I returned to Phnom Penh to continue teaching, researching and performing.
Teaching
Learning with me
I teach children from the age of nine, adults at every level and visiting dancers. Lessons are available in Khmer or English, either in Phnom Penh or live online.
The first aim is not to rush through shapes. It is to build a clear foundation that can support expression, repertoire and confident practice over time.
Selected record
Press, films and appearances
Neang Wadhana Devi — Metamorphosis — one of the two principal roles in Princess Norodom Buppha Devi’s final work.
Images of History — a Meta House demonstration with dancer Sok Nalys and teacher Voan Savay, connecting archival photographs with embodied movement.
ល្ខោនព្រះរាជទ្រព្យ «នាងវឌ្ឍនាទេវី» — Kosaun reflects on the work’s lessons about trust, perseverance and respect.
The four main roles of Cambodian classical dance — Kosaun discusses the Neang role, its costume and its expressive demands.
A Love Story, Not a Fairy Tale — a performance with Sok Nalys for the Queen Mother Library.
King Sisowath’s Dancers: Moving Archives and Embodied History — demonstrations of historical gestures and costumes.
Cambodianess profile — an interview about dance, education, research and the Choreomundus journey.
The Perfect Motion (ទេពហត្ថា) — film participant in the feature documentary about the Royal Ballet of Cambodia and Metamorphosis.
ទេពហត្ថា ដាក់បញ្ចាំងទូទាំងប្រទេស — Khmer-language coverage of the film, Kosaun’s principal role and the transmission of dance knowledge.