Great gusto

The Tonle Bassac folk dancers strutting their stuff last night

Last night on an outdoor stage at the National Museum, the performance of Children of the Khmer by the youngsters from the Tonle Bassac Folk Group, supported and funded by the Cambodian Living Arts team, showed exactly why they went down a storm on their Womad and Edinburgh Festival appearances in 2008. Their combination of classical repertoire and engaging traditional folk dances, performed with great gusto and a guest spot from master musician Ieng Sithul, was lapped up by the appreciative audience in this premiere piece of a performance they will open to the public later this month. Towards the end of this year they are aiming to make the show a regular event. Ieng Sithul has trained his young group well, and their repertoire involved a variety of traditional and well-known folk style dances as well as comedy routines, all backed by their own excellent musicians and singers. You can read more about the group's performances in the UK here. You should definitely make the effort to see them perform, they are an inspiration and a great credit to the youth of their country.
Update: The two 'open to the public' upcoming performances from the Tonle Bassac team will take place on the atmospheric National Museum outdoor stage at 7pm on Thursday 25 March and Thursday 1 April. Tickets are priced at $18 per person, call 023 986 032 to book.

The show opened up with some classical Cambodian court dance

Master Ieng Sithul encourages a member of the audience to partake in some leaf whistling

The show was full of vitality and movement in last night's varied programme

The performers take their bow at the end of the National Museum premiere