Cloud Gate Dance Theatre of Taiwan

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Courtesy of Moss Arts Center at Virginia Tech

With training in meditation, internal martial arts, modern dance, and ballet manifesting in its choreography, Cloud Gate Dance Theatre of Taiwan transforms ancient aesthetics into a thrilling and modern celebration of motion.

The internationally admired contemporary dance company performs 13 Tongues, a work inspired by a legendary 1960s street artist from Taipei, with music ranging from Taiwanese folk songs and Taoist chant to electronica accompanying projections of brilliant colors, shapes, and images. In this fantasy world, dancers gather, interact, separate, and reassemble in a thrilling representation of the clamor of street life. 

About 13 Tongues

As a child in the 1980s, Cloud Gate Artistic Director Cheng Tsung-lung would contribute to the family business by helping his father sell slippers on the streets of Bangka/Wanhua, the oldest district of Taipei. Bangka was known for its vibrantly diverse and bustling street scene that embraced religious and secular life, rich and poor, work and play, and legal and illegal activities. The young Cheng was transfixed by his mother’s accounts of the legendary 1960s street artist and storyteller known as “Thirteen Tongues,” who had adopted Bangka for his informal stage.

It was said that “Thirteen Tongues'' could conjure up all the Bangka characters — high and low born, sacred and profane, men and women — in the most vivid, dramatic, and fluently imaginative narratives. Cheng’s fascination for “Thirteen Tongues” became his inspiration as he transformed his childhood memories into dance.

About Cloud Gate Dance Theatre of Taiwan

Cloud Gate is the name of the oldest known dance in China. In 1973 choreographer Lin Hwai-min adopted this classical name and founded the first contemporary dance company in the greater Chinese-speaking community. In 2020 Cheng Tsung-lung succeeded Lin as the company’s artistic director, bringing together his creative works with traditional roots and excitingly innovative perspectives from the digital and globalized world. The company marked its 50th anniversary in 2023. 

Cloud Gate dancers receive training in meditation; Qi Gong, an ancient breathing exercise; internal martial arts; modern dance; and ballet. Manifesting in its choreographies, the company transforms ancient aesthetics into a thrilling and modern celebration of motion.

Cloud Gate has toured worldwide with frequent engagements at the Next Wave Festival in New York, the Sadler’s Wells Theatre in London, the Moscow Chekhov International Theatre Festival in Russia, the Movimentos International Dance Festival, and the Internationales Tanzfest NRW directed by Pina Bausch in Germany. 

This is Cloud Gate Dance Theatre of Taiwan's first performance at the Moss Arts Center.