khmer sources

She was right up there—apsaras are the best of the best. Young men used to throw roses to her on stage. Then tragically, with 16 years of dancing experience behind her, she plummeted to the bottom of the heap. Disabled, confined to a wheel chair and waist-high to the rest of the world, the future was bleak. That was Kim Sathia.

Half a world away, in England, a young woman longed to be a dancer. So great was her desire to be a part of this universal art form that at 23, she had the audacity to audition for dance school. Her natural ability was perhaps eclipsedby her obvious passion and the school accepted her. And that was Katie MacCabe.

Katie was brought up in what was probably a comfortable middle-class family but one thing about her life was a bit different from that of her peers. You see, Katie’s father was severely disabled having fallen victim to polio and yet, in Katie’s words he, "lived a normal life. He was completely integrated. You didn’t see him as disabled." Growing up with this was a constant stimulus as she formed the belief that so many people with disabilities could similarly be integrated if only they could overcome their sense of shame—believe in themselves as a complete person. And what better way than by learning performance skills: feeling very okay about putting up in front of the crowd; being integrated into their communities?

Sathia, star of the Royal University of Fine Arts Ballet in Phnom Penh and trained in both classical and cultural dance, had sustained injuries in a motor accident that had rendered her paraplegic. Her career was over. There was little left in her life. After 10 months of hospitals and rehabilitation centers things improved a little for Sathia when she was taken in hand by Carson Harte, from disability NGO The Cambodia Trust, and offered work as a receptionist. With her options severely limited, Sathia accepted. It might have been one of the smartest things she ever did. Back in England, Katie graduated from dance school and inspired by community dance work she had seen being done with disabled people there, she trained with CanDoCo, an organization promoting international integrated dance. Katie’s work with CanDoCo led her to form her own company, Epic Arts, which took her to China and then to Cambodia where she began talking to organizations that work with people with disabilities. One of these organizations was The Cambodia Trust and who did she meet there? Sathia.

That was a year ago and while Katie began working on integrated dance projects with other clients of the Cambodia Trust, Sathia was unwilling to be involved. Katie accepted this; she was aware of the massive trauma that Sathia had suffered and just how that impacted on her talents. As a dancer with passion and fire in her belly, Katie could begin to understand just what it was like to have those legs taken away.

But Katie, working on her program with other Cambodians, needed to learn some of the finer points of the hand movements of Cambodian dance. Sathia, still sitting in the wings, agreed to teach her and it was during one of these sessions, nearly 12 months after their first meeting, that she quietly took Katie’s hand and said, "Katie. I want to dance with you."
Sathia and Katie now work together regularly. Not only are they building dance pieces to take to wider audiences but they are also combining their skills to bring integrated dance to young people with disabilities. Their combined enthusiasm and mastery of their craft works magic on children and young adults who up till now felt left out, shamed and incomplete.

It’s early days, but Katie has big plans for the works that she and Sathia are creating. She also has some lofty goals for Sathia’s future and at 37, there’s a lot of dancing left in her yet.