Three teenagers huddle together for a quick brainstorming session in the warehouse dance studio of the Khmer Arts Academy in the heart of Cambodia Town.
One girl is plucking at a ukulele, another is quickly tapping impromptu prose into her phone and a boy is suggesting what movements he could do with the words. Together, they’re creating a dance piece: one that’s part Cambodian, part American.
“‘The ugly I see in myself is the beauty others see in me,’” Victoria Ung, 16, recites from her notes. She pauses.
