Rady Tes and mother, Arlington, VA

Sam-Oeun (Rady) Tes grew up in Phnom Pehn, Cambodia. After graduating high school, she began her training in Cambodian classical dance. Although Sam-Oeun was considered to have a late start in her dance career (most girls start when they are quite young) with her talent and determination she became a successful dancer in The Cambodian Royal Ballet.

In 1971, because of the political turmoil in Cambodia, she and her husband immigrated to the United States. Sam-Oeun went to cosmetology school during the day and to English school at night learning new skills to facilitate on a new career. After graduating, she had two children and opened her own beauty salon Several Cambodian teenagers who were searching for a dance teacher found out about her and her previous career with the Cambodian Royal Ballet. They asked her to be their teacher, and from then on, her class grew in number.

In 1980, Sam-Oeun and her husband founded The Cambodian-American Heritage Inc., a non-profit organization that introduces Cambodian culture through the classical dance. She learned how to make traditional dance costumes from books, and perfected the group’s performance to represent the authentic Cambodian dance tradition. The Cambodian-American Heritage Inc. was gradually recognized for its cultural contribution in Washington D.C. area. The small dance class that started out in the basement of Sam-Oeun’s house became a famous dance troop. Today, the Cambodian-American Heritage Inc. performs across the United States.

In 1998, Sam-Oeun received a national Heritage Fellowship from National Endowment for the Arts, an award given to master folk and traditional artists to recognize lifetime achievement, artistic excellence, and contributions to the United States’ traditional arts heritage. 

Quotes by Sam-Oeun Tes:

[After arriving in the USA,] I studied. I went to English school at nighttime, and then during day I went to [school] to be a hairdresser. [I attended cosmology] school for one year. [I decided to do that because] I thought [that way] you get to learn English faster because you talk to the customers while you do their hair, and [while you work,] you’re learning [English]. [At first] it was very difficult to understand the English of my customers, very, very hard, but [I began to] understand one by one, step by step, until I got used to it.  It’s really hard, because English is completely different than the Cambodian language.

It's really, really hard work, very hard work. I am thinking about the forty-five students. Right now I am proud of myself.  The first year, the second year [were] very hard. You teach the children dance, and you make the costumes for the children, and you’re dancing yourself.  You come home, you clean the house, you’re cooking, and then you work as a hairdresser, too. It's how many jobs?  But I was thinking that now I didn’t have any of my country anymore.  At that time, you didn't know if you would have the freedom to go back home or what's going on.  So I had to build something that's for my country, so I was just thinking [that I want] to make the world know [about Cambodian culture], in addition to making people in United States know.  A lot of people, besides in the United States, in Paris and everywhere, they know my name now.  It's on the Cambodian-American Heritage group’s videotape.  Some students stay with me for ten years, some marry and move out.  They learn the way I teach it [the dance technique], they study, and then they go back to like New York State or Washington State.  They know [the dance technique] so they teach it to the younger generation.  So we have a lot [of students] spread all over the place now.

I feel so good, because I am proud of myself.  I heard from my [dance teacher] in Cambodia. She knows that I have a group here and she’s proud of me. [She’s] in Phnom Penh right now.  She said, ‘You did a very good job and you keep doing it.  We heard your name everywhere.’  So it's not just in the United States; my name [is known] all over the place, in Cambodia, in France, in Canada.

I try to do the best I can. I try to keep exactly what my teacher taught me. In my group I don't have men dance the man role.  Woman dance the man role. I still keep [it] like that.  I want to keep the tradition.

Tes teaching Cambodian classical dance

Tes with Family. Rady is giving a traditional Cambodian greeting of hello, while her son gives a traditional American greeting.

Tes with daughter

Tes with husband

Tes with dance troupe members

Tes performance portraits

Tes performing with dance troupe