In this 90-minute workshop, participants will learn the basic Cambodian dance hand gestures to explore the cycle of life cycle. Textual documentation, iconography, and oral histories explain that the art of Cambodian classical dance is over a thousand years old and a form of prayer performed in temples for rain and fertility, essential to the Cambodian agrarian society. Since the Khmer Rouge genocide (1975-1979), Cambodian performing arts have reached new heights because artists who survived and transmitted these cultural traditions. Using gestural metaphors rooted in various stages of growth from the plant life cycle, such as planting, growing, young leaves, flowering, and ripe fruit, Cambodian dancers embody the transformations in nature. Dancers evoke the serpent's spirit in their bodies by imagining rivers, transforming into life-giving water cutting across the earth and tying back the practice to local Khmer spirituality. The first part of the workshop will introduce classical dance stretches and basic hand gestures that narrate the cycle of life metaphor. Then, we will teach the dance, "Flowers of the World," a dance taught to young and beginner dancers to solidify foundational techniques. Lastly, we will end the workshop by teaching a popular dance called romvong. The story of the plant cycle, as told through dance, can be interpreted as a metaphor for present-day Cambodian creatives who thrive from the resilience of surviving artists and teachers. Now, dancers choreograph dances in Cambodia while using traditional practices to reclaim cultural identity and heal from the trauma of war, genocide, and displacement.