Toward a corporeal economy: Evaluating the Cambodian dancer's laboring body as commodity

Abstract

In developing countries, the arts are one path out of poverty. Cambodia's traditional arts were nearly destroyed during the Khmer Rouge regime, which created extreme economic, cultural, and political instability. In subsequent years, the effort to reconstruct classical dance was seen as a vivid symbol of the country's vitality. Simultaneously, economic needs have increasingly commoditized the practice. This article explores how, in the context of performance, dance practitioners' bodies are transformed into both cultural symbols and commercial products. What are the material consequences that result from this intertwining of labor and product? Expanding on Loïc Wacquant's corporeal economy—the bodily labor that goes into preparation and performance—an analysis of the dancing body provides an opportunity to examine its valuation as it is increasingly commodified. Based on eighteen months of field research and more than 150 interviews, the article explores performer experiences in two settings. The Cambodian Cultural Village (Siem Reap) and the Children of Bassac Dance Troupe (Phnom Penh) offer contrasting cases of bodily economics. These sites demonstrate that a theory of corporeal economics can explain the decisions dance practitioners make regarding their investment of labor. They also reveal the degrees of control that dancers have over their bodily production.