Absolutely adorable

The absolutely adorable Chamreun

Chamreun trains the audience in some of the hand gestures

How often do you hear, "absolutely adorable" when you watch a performance of classical and traditional Cambodian dance by youngsters from a dance school or orphanage. Well, I heard it again on Friday, but this time it was myself saying it. Simply because the youngsters from COFCO, or Cambodian Orphan Family Center Organization, to give them their full name, were so good and looked so cute. Especially Chamreun, who was the cutest of them all. And Samnang, who was the best monkey boy I've seen in a long while. As a group of nine dancers, the girls and boys of COFCO were invited by Kim, the daughter of the owners of the Shadow of Angkor guesthouse in Siem Reap, to perform in the first of a hoped-for monthly series of shows to spotlight their excellent dancing and to give the orphanage some much needed revenue. There was a good crowd at Shadow II, the small cover charge meant everyone could help themselves to copious food on offer and then on came the COFCO children to perform three separate dances, firstly classical and then traditional. And they were very good. I've seen a lot of these performances over the years and in Samnang in particular, COFCO has one of the best monkey dancers I've seen in a long time. He was simply brilliant. And he should be snapped up by Sovanna Phum or CLA immediately. Chamreun was adorable, she had a cheeky smile and was in her element at the end when she was showing some of the audience how to dance and make some of the gestures with their hands. I wanted to adopt her there and then. I didn't, obviously, but you get my drift. COFCO welcomes volunteers and their director Meas Pov, a former singer, is ultra keen that the children get extra lessons in English and Khmer arts like dancing and singing, and if their performance at Shadow is anything to go by, they are learning quickly and learning well. Link: COFCO.

Chamreun leads the dancers offstage after their final dance

A classical wishing dance by the children of COFCO
More tuition from Chamreun

Samnang, the best monkey boy I've seen for a long time

COFCO director Meas Pov helps one of her dancers with her costume