SOKVANNARA (SY) SAR

Sokvannara (Sy) Sar was born in Siem Reap, Cambodia, where he studied traditional Khmer dance from the age of ten at the Wat Bo School. He often performed with the school’s troupe at Preah Khan Temple for guests of the World Monuments Fund. In 2000, Anne Bass, an American enthusiast and supporter of ballet, saw him there and was impressed by his talent and invited him to visit the School of American Ballet in New York.

Sar studied at the School of American Ballet for five years and ultimately joined Pacific Northwest Ballet in Seattle when his teacher, Peter Boal, became Artistic Director.

Sar was a semifinalist in the International Ballet Competition, Varna, where he performed variations from Giselle, La Sylphide, Coppelia, and Le Corsaire. He was also a guest artist at the cross-cultural evening at the Chatomuk Theatre to celebrate the opening of the new United States Embassy complex in Phnom Penh, where he danced variations from Square Dance, Tschaikovsky pas de deux, and Le Corsaire. He has originated roles in Benjamin Millepied’s On the Other Side, 28 Variations of a Theme by Paganini, and 3 Movements. In July, 2008, Sar performed On the Other Side, accompanied by Philip Glass, for the opening night of the Vail International Dance Festival. In addition, he has danced featured roles in George Balanchine’s La Sonnambula, William Forsythe’s One Flat Thing, reproduced, Kent Stowell’s The Nutcracker, Twyla Tharp’s Waterbabies Bagatelle, and Marco Goecke's Mopey.

From 2010 to 2011 Sar performed as a freelance artist with Avi Scher and Dancers at Kennedy Center in Garden Dance, a solo created for him taking inspiration from Asian and Western dance, in the Vail international Dance Festival in the premiere of Rock Steady, created for the Festival by Larry Keigwin and again in 2011 in a solo created for him by Jill Johnson. He also appeared with The Suzanne Farrell Company at Kennedy Center and as a guest artist with St Louis Ballet where he performed Mopey.

In May, 2011, Sar joined Carolina Ballet as a soloist. He has performed principal roles in Balanchine’s Midsummer Night’s Dream (Oberon), Prodigal Son, Tarantella, Valse Fantasie, Attila Bognar’s An Invisible Story, Lynne Taylor Corbett’s Carmina Burana, Code of Silence, The Little Mermaid, Robert Weiss’ Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony, Cinderella, Idyll, Intimate Voices, Nutcracker, and Symposium. He has also appeared as a guest artist from the east cost to Hawaii.