Travel Location: Siem Reap

The Smile of Angkor Grand Epic Show in Siem Reap is a show about the history and culture of Cambodia. Dancers from the Cambodian Royal Ballet as well as from China immerse you to the time when the Temples of Angkor were built. Smile of Angkor is a high technology laser show with modern lighting and sound system. It combines ancient Cambodian songs and dances with ancient Khmer martial art performances, acrobatics, legends, local Khmer life, the temples of Angkor, Khmer festivals and the Hindu myth Churning the Sea of Milk...

The Smile of Angkor Show is shown in the Siem Reap Exhibition Center AngkorCOEX, which is located just north of the Apsara roundabout on Apsara Road near the Charles de Gaulle Boulevard...
Smile of Angkor not only make a great achievement in Cambodia culture and arts, but make a great contribution to Cambodia people. In Smile of Angkor, ninety percent of the dancers are Cambodia. Some of them are orphans; some of their relatives are the victim of landmine. Smile of Angkor offer them a job, train them to be a dancer. They become the inheritor of Cambodia culture. Smile of Angkor also cooperates with two Cambodia Orphan Schools to support these poor children by donation. Watching Smile of Angkor, you not only can enjoy the real culture of Cambodia, but can help Cambodia people.
Smile of Angkor Show general manager Fang Shun Dong told 7Days the company’s previous office, on the outskirts of the Angkor Archaeological Park, next to the Apsara Authority offices, was too far from the city to attract tourist bookings for the show.“The main reason I moved our office to the centre of the city is because tourists could not find us as easily,” he said. “Now we have more visibility because of big signs advertising the show. Tourists can see it and come to us to learn more.”
Premiering in November 2010, Smile of Angkor is a 75-minute dance epic involving up to 104 performers. Billed as the “number one epic performance in Southeast Asia” by its organisers, the Siem Reap Performance andamp; Arts Co Ltd, the show also receives support from the Chinese and Cambodian Ministries of Culture.Dong told 7Days the show was designed to act as a “window showing Khmer culture to the whole world”, and has proven to be commercially successful even during low season.
“I had to confront a million problems in organising this show, which is why I have to learn to be as the flower which Mao describes. After overcoming the challenges, success is now ahead for us and after it happens I will take a step back, stand with the audience and smile as I watch Smile of Angkor. I hope the show will continue to attract people forever.”