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Chankethya “Kethya” Chey was born in Phnom Penh, Cambodia. The daughter of political figures, Kethya dreamt of being an ambassador or prime minister, but not a dancer. She began to study classical dance at the age of five, and was part of a tour to Europe at the age of nine. Since then she has never stopped dancing, and has performed with the Cambodia Royal Ballet Troupe touring Europe and Asia. She received a bachelor’s degree in the Faculty of Choreographic Arts from the Royal University of Fine Arts in Phnom Penh, and a bachelor’s degree in English from the Royal University of Phnom Penh. After thirteen years of dancing and creating pieces that engage both personal and political history, she encountered contemporary dance for the first time by participating in a Southeast Asian dance project called “Realizing Rama.” The experience changed her life. She was intrigued by the freedom, the freshness, and the creativity that arose out of the new dance style. This inspired her to go to UCLA for a three-month choreography and arts management fellowship where she was exposed to different dance forms. She then received a Fulbright scholarship to obtain her MFA at UCLA. She returned to Cambodia in 2014 and became the Artistic Director of Amrita Performing Arts.