About Cloud Gate Dance Theatre of Taiwan
Cloud Gate is the name of the oldest known dance company 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 became the company’s Artistic Director, bringing together his creative works with traditional roots and excitingly innovative perspectives from the digital and globalized world. In 2023, Cloud Gate ushered in its 50th anniversary.
Cloud Gate dancers receive training in meditation; Qi Gong, an ancient breathing exercise; internal martial arts; modern dance; and ballet. Manifesting in 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. International press acclaimed the company as “Asia’s leading contemporary dance theater” (The Times), and “one of the best dance companies in the world” (FAZ).
About Cheng Tsung-lung, Artistic Director
From street hawker selling slippers to internationally recognized choreographer, Cheng Tsung-lung succeeded Lin Hwai-min as Artistic Director of Cloud Gate Dance Theatre of Taiwan in 2020.
Tsung-lung took his first dance class at the age of 8. Upon graduation from the Dance Department, Taipei National University of the Arts, he joined Cloud Gate in 2002 and became the Artistic Director of Cloud Gate 2 in 2014.
He won top prizes in international choreography competitions, including the Premio Roma Danza International Choreography Competition, and became widely known in the dance world for breathtaking works inspired by the street life and folk religion that was part of his upbringing in the oldest commercial district of Taipei.
Tsung-lung’s works exude a humble beauty rooted in Asian culture. His 13 Tongues (2016) incorporated folk steps, religious rites and Taoist chanting into a contemporary expression, and received raving reviews from France, Germany and China. French media credited it as “a triumph...appealing to the eyes.” Full Moon (2017), commissioned by Sydney Dance Company, has been acclaimed in Paris and Sydney. Set to music specially arranged by Sigur Rós and hailed as a work of “fierce beauty,” Lunar Halo (2019) brought the house down in its premiere season and garnered invitations from worldwide. Sounding Light (2020) reflects on the relationship between humans and nature, being praised as a “beautifully crafted work, bearing repeated viewings.” Visually stunning, Send In A Cloud (2022) displays in shifting colors a panorama of dancers’ life journeys.
Tsung-lung has been a fixture of Routledge’s respected annual survey of dance practitioners, Fifty Contemporary Choreographers (2020), alongside the likes of William Forsythe, Akram Khan, Hofesh Shechter, and leaders in the form.