For a year, I had the opportunity to live at the rhythm of Phare Ponleu Selpak, a school of visual and performing arts based in Battambang, Cambodia. As a civic service volunteer, I discovered a wonderful place where art blends with education, and where every day brings a new form of creativity.
The campus big top comes alive several evenings a week with performances combining circus, dance and music, performed by the school's students.
The stories told are often inspired by local legends or traditional Khmer tales, revisited with humour and poetry. Juggling, acrobatics, balance, but also strong emotions: each show becomes a journey into the Cambodian imagination.
Before the performances, there is a pre-show of classical Khmer dance, gracefully performed by the school's young dancers. It is a way of linking tradition and contemporary creation.
The music is performed live, using traditional Cambodian instruments such as the roneat, khim and skor, sometimes combined with ingeniously repurposed objects to create surprising sounds. The musicians' inventiveness gives each performance a unique flavour.
But Phare is much more than just a big top. It is first and foremost an artistic and social school that welcomes more than 1,000 children and youths from often vulnerable backgrounds.
On a daily basis, the NGO offers full support: meals for the children, social support and artistic training in various fields: visual arts, music, theatre, dance, circus arts...
The classrooms are simple but lively, the art workshops are buzzing with activity, and the children's energy is always there. Every corner of the campus bears the marks of creativity: murals, metal sculptures, posters made by the students.
Spending a year at Phare means learning to see things differently. It means understanding the power of art as a tool for expression, resilience and transmission. It also means living a simple, often joyful, sometimes difficult daily life, but always supported by solidarity.
Through these images, I hope to share a little of what I have seen, felt and learned within this exceptional NGO.