Cloud Gate Dance Theatre

Close your eyes... and open them again in one of the bustling arteries of Bangka/Wanhua, Taipei's oldest district. Where young Cheng Tsung-lung grew up, lulled by his mother's tales of a popular local figure, the artist Thirteen Tongues. In the 1960s, this legendary storyteller had taken the street as his stage, with its noble or trivial human activities, its sacred rites, its profane festivals, and made the inhabitants of his neighbourhood the characters of his inventive narratives. Thirty years later, the choreographer draws on the source of his memories to recreate the thrilling clamour and bewitching legends that marked his childhood. From folk songs to Taoist chanting, from electronics to the immemorial sound of a one-handed ritual bell, the music immerses the viewer in a fusional space-time. The religious heritage of the ancient Bangka/Wanhua, the realm of the spirits, merges with the contemporary face of human passions. Experienced in all styles, the thirteen - decidedly! - dancers of the troupe evolve in an immersive setting, which is recomposed according to dazzling projections of lights and images. In a spiritual link with the deities, a fantastic world emerges, carrying the memory of an entire people.

Cheng Tsung-lung, Cloud Gate Dance Theater of Taiwan
Founded in 1973 by Lin Hwai-min, Cloud Gate is recognised as "one of the best international companies". Its creations, based on traditional techniques as well as classical and contemporary dance, are performed all over the world. Since 2020, it has been led by dancer and choreographer Cheng Tsung-lung, who first joined the troupe in 2002 as a dancer and then took over the direction of Cloud Gate 2 in 2014. His latest piece, Send In A Cloud (2022), presents the life paths of the dancers in changing colours.

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