Ernie Kell, mayor of Long Beach (1982-1994), presents Leng Hang (center) an award recognizing her contributions to the City through her Cambodian Arts Preservation Group.
Leng Hang (far left) stands next to Long Beach Mayor Beverly O’Neill (1994-2006) with dancers in the troupe she founded through the Cambodian Arts Preservation Group.
Leng Hang (left) with a student who is learning to be a wedding coordinator. Cambodian weddings occur over a three-day period. Several ceremonies are conducted each day, and each ceremony requires a change of outfit and hair style.
Leng Hang demonstrates the modeling and molding technique used to teach young dancers the proper posture and hand movements required in Cambodian traditional dance.
Costumes and materials from Cambodia were not available in the United States in the early days of the community. Everything had to be made by hand from memory. Leng Hang, pictured here adding beads to a shawl used in Cambodian classical court dance and weddings, had been trained as a dancer and actor while in the Cambodian Army in the 1960s. She founded the Cambodian Arts Preservation Group in 1983 in Long Beach.
