MCLA Blog

MCLA will present the documentary film, “Monkey Dance: Cambodian Culture and Immigrants in America,” on Thursday, Oct. 25, at 7 p.m. in Murdock Hall, room 218.

The event, which will feature a panel consisting of three of the film’s featured subjects, is free and open to the public.

One woman featured in the documentary and who will appear on the panel, is MCLA alumna Linda Sou ’05. Sou’s father founded the Angkor dance troupe to expose Cambodian culture to immigrant youth. The panel also includes Samnang Hor and Sochenda Uch.
The film depicts the three Cambodian Americans living, studying, and dancing in Lowell during their high school years. The parents of those highlighted in the film are survivors of the Khmer Rouge genocide.

One of the two main themes of “Monkey Dance” involves the impact of dance in the lives of these young people. The other theme concerns the dreams, hopes, successes, failures, and disappointments of these young people as they experience the push and pull of Cambodian and American culture, growing up in the projects of an old Massachusetts factory town.

The showing of “Monkey Dance,” produced by Julie Mallozzi, is being sponsored by the Department of Sociology, Anthropology and Social Work. Refreshments will be served.