CLOUD GATE DANCE THEATRE OF TAWIAN
13 TONGUES
by CHENG TSUNG-LUNG
Made possible through the generosity of López Love: Nance & Ramón José
NOVEMBER 20,7:30PM
LENSIC PERFORMING ARTS CENTER
| Choreography | CHENG Tsung-lung |
| Music | LIM Giong |
| Art Design | HO Chia-hsing |
| Lighting Design | SHEN Po-hung |
| Projection Design | Ethan WANG |
| Costume Design | LIN Bing-hao |
| Voice Coach | TSAI Pao-chang |
| Premiere | March 11, 2016 Taiwan International Festival of Arts at National Theater, Taipei, Taiwan |
| Commission | National Theater & Concert Hall, Taipei. |
Cast
CHAN Pui pui CHANG Hung-mao CHEN Tsung-chiao CHOU Chen-yeh
FAN Chia-hsuan HSU Chih-hen HUANG Lu-kai HUANG Mei-ya
HUANG Po-kai HUANG Yen-cheng LEE Tzu-chun SHAO Hsing-wen YEN Hsueh-hsin
(In alphabetical order)
This tour is made possible in part by grants from the Ministry of Culture, Republic of China (Taiwan)
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/Wanhua was known for its vibrantly diverse and bustling street scene that embraced religious and secular life, rich and poor, work and play, 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/Wanhua for his informal stage. It was said that “Thirteen Tongues” could conjure up all the Bangka/Wanhua characters – high and low born, sacred and profane, men and women – in the most vivid, dramatic, and fluently imaginative narratives. Thirty years on CHENG’s fascination for “Thirteen Tongues” became his inspiration as he transformed his childhood memories into dance.
Beginning and ending with the sound of a single hand bell, the music accompanying 13 TONGUES ranges from Taiwanese folk songs to Taoist chant to electronica. The stage is awash with projections of brilliant colours, shapes, and images and the dancers gather, interact, separate and re-gather in a thrilling representation of the clamour of street life. As the religious heritage of ancient Bangka/Wanhua fuses with the secular space it is today so time appears to dissolve. The spirit realm and the human realm also coalesce as the audience is taken on an immersive journey – via imagination and storytelling that recalls the art of “Thirteen Tongues” – through centuries of human endeavour, behaviour, and belief.
WHAT HAS BEEN SAID ABOUT 13 TONGUES
13 TONGUES is a sensationally big, indulgent, and visually arresting expression of cultural memory.
The Times
13 TONGUES brilliantly combines the simplicity of tradition with technological innovations.
La Croix
13 TONGUES demonstrates beautifully the extraordinary, elemental quality of the Cloud Gate dancers, energy coursing through their butter-soft, titanium-strength bodies, limbs curling like tendrils of smoke.
The Guardian
Cheng’s movement language is remarkable, showing exceptional range and masterful structure, . . . Each dancer is of soloist standard and when given their spotlight opportunity they leap into action with lithe, flexible, and powerful bodies. It’s magic.
SeeingDance
The choreutic structure of 13 TONGUES reveals a skillful use of historical forms which does not aim at a negation of the past or the present, but at the developing of a form that is both ancestral and original.
Persinsala
Visually, it’s all striking, it’s like watching a moving work of art emerge in the hands of an invisible calligrapher.
Svenska Dagbladet
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: Cloud Gate Dance Theatre of Taiwan, also known worldwide as Cloud Gate. In 2020, CHENG Tsung-lung succeeded LIN as the company’s Artistic Director. In 2023, Cloud Gate celebrated its 50th anniversary.
Cloud Gate has set out to engage with local history, culture, and subject matter and draws on classical, folk, and modern dance from both Western and Asian traditions. Its dancers trained in meditation, Qi Gong, an ancient breathing exercise; internal martial arts, modern dance, and ballet. Under the leadership of CHENG, their training has further expanded to include training from various styles of dance, such as street dance. Manifesting in choreographies, the company transforms ancient aesthetics into a thrilling and modern celebration of motion.
Cloud Gate has received international acclaim as “Asia’s leading contemporary dance theater” (The Times), and “One of the best dance companies in the world” (FAZ). Cloud Gate is also honored as the “Outstanding Company” for the 2018 National Dance Awards, UK.
The company 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 the late Pina Bausch in Germany.
Cloud Gate has also danced into local campuses and grassroots communities. Its annual free outdoor performances staged across Taiwan in cities and villages draw a minimum of 30,000 people per performance, hailed as one of the biggest dance events on earth.
LIN HWAI-MIN
Founder
LIN Hwai-min founded Cloud Gate Dance Theatre of Taiwan in 1973 and has led the company to international prominence through his thrilling creations that transform Asian aesthetics into a contemporary celebration of motion.
Among the honors LIN Hwai-min has received are the Samuel H. Scripps /American Dance Festival Award for Lifetime Achievement; the John D. Rockefeller Award, New York; the Chevalier of the Order of Arts and Letters, France; and a Lifetime Achievement Award from the Movimentos International Dance Festival, Germany. He has also been celebrated by Time magazine as one of “Asia’s Heroes”.
At the end of 2019, LIN Hwai-min stepped down as the Artistic Director of Cloud Gate and handed the reins of the company to CHENG Tsung-lung.
WHAT HAS BEEN SAID ABOUT CLOUD GATE DANCE THEATRE OF TAIWAN
Talent and skill require no translation… it’s only right that they should be shared with the rest of the world.
The New York Times
When you’re talking about Cloud Gate, magic is not too strong a word.
Time Out
One of the finest dance companies in the world.
The Globe and Mail
An extraordinarily exciting, brutishly physical contemporary dance company.
San Francisco Examiner
[The dancers] have such stringent, elastic control that they can suddenly blast upwards into high, light jumps that for a moment you fancy might not come down again. The grace of it is, in a way, balletic, but its evasion of the norms of gravity, its total fluidity, suggests that there is a new book of the human dancing body waiting to be written with t’ai chi training.
The Daily Telegraph
Dancers of the Cloud Gate possess a control and articulation that verge on the superhuman…In fact, they have the power to change your metabolism.
Chicago Sun–Times
What dancers! Their assurance, fluidity and discipline are simply breathtaking. The mixture of traditional Asian gesture, martial arts-inspired leaps, kicks and slaps and the audible breath of the dancers creates a mesmerizing language before our eyes.
Durham News & Observer
Cloud Gate leaves you sitting breathlessly on the edge of your chair.
San Jose Mercury News
This company gets to you. . . . A rousing standing ovation.
San Francisco Chronicle
This is a company that you will enjoy, fall in love with, and want to see again.
Ballet-Dance Magazine
So touching that one can not help crying . . . tears of joy – one’s heart nearly explodes from such a great theatrical experience.
Aftenposten
Wholly irresistible!
Dance News
CHENG TSUNG-LUNG
Artistic Director / Choreographer
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 starting in 2020.
CHENG took his first dance class at the age of 8. Upon graduation from the Dance Department at Taipei National University of the Arts, he joined Cloud Gate in 2002 and became the Artistic Director of Cloud Gate 2 in 2014.
CHENG has been awarded prestigious prizes for his choreography internationally as well as at home, such as the No Ballet International Choreography Competition (Germany), the Premio Roma Danza International Choreography Competition (Italy), the MASDANZA Choreography Competition (Spain) and the Taishin Arts Award (Taiwan). He has also worked with companies worldwide, including Sydney Dance Company, the Transitions Dance Company at the Laban Centre, London, Expressions Dance Company, Brisbane, and the Hong Kong Academy for Performing Arts.
CHENG’s work is deeply rooted in both ancient and modern Taiwanese culture — and he is a strong supporter of Cloud Gate’s extensive engagement with grassroots audiences across Taiwan— yet it also embraces global influences. He is praised by the Stage Newspaper with “an eye for a cinematic moment.” His 13 TONGUES (2016) integrates folk dance, religious rites, and Taoist chant to conjure the streets where he worked as a child. Lunar Halo (2019) is performed to an ethereally haunting soundtrack by Icelandic musician Sigur Rós and explores the complex area of human connection and technology. Sounding Light (2020) was written in response to COVID-19 pandemic-induced isolation and reflects on the precariousness of both the human and the natural world. Visually stunning, Send In A Cloud (2022) displays in shifting colors a panorama of dancers’ life journeys. The most recent choreography WAVES (2023), a collaboration with Japanese media artist Daito MANABE, explores societal and individual facets affected by the rapid progress of technological advancements.
CHENG 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.
LIM GIONG
Music
LIM Giong’s music career began as a singer-songwriter and then moved behind the scenes to meet DJs. Encouraged by director HOU Hsiao-hsien, LIM started the work of film soundtrack from “Goodbye South, Goodbye”, and has participated in the soundtrack of short films, advertisements, animations, and documentaries. After he started collaborating with artists in various fields in 2004, his compositions became more experimental and are increasingly infused with electronic music, evolving drum and bass, breakbeat, ambient, and electronica. LIM composed for choreographer CHENG Tsung-lung’s 13 TONGEUS (2016), Full Moon (2017), Multiplication (2019), and Sounding Light (2020) with his unique music style and added a variety of flavors to the pieces. LIM recently created music for Nothing Between Body and Earth, a film co-directed by CHENG Tsung-lung and CHUAN Ming-yuan.
HO CHIA-HSING
Art Design
An AGI (Alliance Graphique Internationale) member since 2017, HO Chia-hsing is nourished in his artistic designs by the rich cultural atmosphere of Dadaocheng, an old city district in Taipei.
HO established a graphic design studio called the “Timonium Lake” in 2006. In 2019, with partners at work, he runs the “Monsoon Plasticizing Culture Work Team,” focusing on the rapid changes in the design industries of Taiwan and East Asia. His team uses the calligraphic line of traditional Chinese scripts as means to create modern designs. In collaboration with artists in different fields, his team fuses local Taiwan culture with their spiritual nourishment in their plastic arts and design works.
SHEN PO-HUNG
Lighting Design
Graduating from the Graduate Institute of Drama and Theatre at National Taiwan University, SHEN Po-hung has created his personal marks on lighting design through in-depth reading into interdisciplinary fields. SHEN currently works as a freelance designer and his designs encompass works in dance, drama, concert, and special events. He has collaborated with CHENG Tsung-lung for many years, with designing credits including WAVES (2023), Send In A Cloud (2022), Lunar Halo (2019), Dream Catcher (2017), 13 TONGUES (2016), Beckoning (2015), Dorian Gray (2014), Blue Hour (2013), and On the Road (2011).
ETHAN WANG
Projection Design
One of the most active projection designers in Taiwan, Ethan WANG received his MA degree in Communication Design majoring in New Media Pathway from Central Saint Martins College of Art & Design, University of the Arts London and has been devoted to creation and education on video design in performing arts. WANG was the curator for 2019 Prague Quadrennial Taiwan Exhibition and currently services as an Associate Professor for the Department of Theatre Design and Technology at the Taipei National University of the Arts. WANG was awarded the outstanding alumni of the Taipei National University of the Arts in 2017.
WANG has received numerous awards including the first prize of “World Stage Design 2022 in Projection Design for U Theatre’s The Colours; the silver award in Digital Arts and Graphic Design from the “Novum Design Award (NDA, France) for his outdoor lighting sculpture of Weiwuying Lights Up: The Island of Memories in 2022; the bronze medal of “World Stage Design 2013 New Media Award” for Cloud Gate’s Water Stains on the Wall; the winner of “7th Knight of Illumination Awards 2015” for Cloud Gate’s RICE. His projection design for CHENG Tsung-lung’s 13 TONGUES won him the silver award at the World Stage Design 2017.
LIN BING-HAO
Costume Design
LIN Bing-hao started learning dance at the Taipei National University of the Arts. Later discovering his true passion for costume design, he dropped out of school to serve as an apprentice to the renowned designer LIN Ching-ju in 1998. In 2001, he opened his Costume Shop, and soon in the next year launched Taiwan’s first professional brand of leotards, KeithLink.
Lin has collaborated with important performing arts groups and artists in Taiwan, including Cloud Gate 2, Cloud Gate Dance Theatre of Taiwan, Ju Percussion Group, and GuoGuang Chinese Opera Company. Acclaimed by critics as a promising artist, in 2011, Lin was invited to design for the opera La Dame aux Camélias directed by the renowned Japanese theater director Tadashi Suzuki.
TSAI PAO-CHANG
Voice Coach
TSAI Pao-Chang graduated from National Taiwan University with his BA in Drama & Theatre and received his MA in Music Theatre from Royal Central School of Speech and Drama, University of London. In 2011, with a grant from Asian Cultural Council, he received his voice and speech trainings from the America Repertory Theater at Harvard University, and further his theater adventure at Moscow Art Theatre (MXAT). He is actively involved in various international artist-in-residency and programs including France, Iceland, USA, Denmark, South Korea and Germany.
Known as a playwright, a director, and an actor, Tsai collaborate with many performing arts companies in Taiwan. He served as the co-artistic director of Tainaner Ensemble, one of the most established theater companies in Taiwan from 2009 to 2018.
LEE CHING-CHUN
Associate Artistic Director
LEE Ching-chun obtained her MA degree in Dance Studies from Trinity Laban Conservatoire of Music and Dance, London, in 1999. In 2004, she received the National Award for the Arts from Taiwan National Culture and Arts Foundation, the highest award for artists in Taiwan.
Joining Cloud Gate Dance Theatre of Taiwan in 1983, LEE took leading roles in most of LIN Hwai-min’s choreographies, including his signature works Cursive: A Trilogy, Songs of the Wanderers, and Nine Songs, among others. Appointed as Associate Artistic Director in 2003, she has often represented LIN Hwai-min to re-stage his works for international dance companies, such as Zurich Ballet.
LEE’s other dance credits include Helen LAI’s The Rite of Spring, Invisible Cities, La Vie en Rose, and Frida. In addition to performances, she has also been invited to choreograph for Cloud Gate, Spotlight Dance Company, and Kaohsiung City Ballet Company. In 1999, collaborating with Canadian stage designer Tania Etienne, she choreographed and performed her solo dance work Courtyard of Pearls.
Serving as the Chief Consultant for Cloud Gate Dance School, LEE has helped to create and develop class syllabuses for students aged from 4 to 84.
YANG LING-KAI
Rehearsal Director
Learning dance at a very young age, YANG Ling-kai toured internationally in her adolescence with Taiwan’s Lan Yang Dancers Troup. Immediately after graduating from Taipei National University of the Arts in 1999, she joined Cloud Gate 2 serving as one of its founding members and has since taken major roles with praise, in works by renowned choreographers such as LIN Hwai-min, Helen LAI, LO Man-fei, WU Kuo-chu, Bulareyaung Pagarlava, HUANG Yi, and CHENG Tsung-lung. YANG has been the rehearsal director for Cloud Gate since 2014.
Cloud Gate Culture and Arts Foundation
Chairman
Stan SHIH
Board of Directors
HSU Sheng-hsiung Barry LAM Simon LIN LIN Hwai-min Jamie LIN TSAI Hong-tu
Rick TSAI TSENG F.C. TUNG T.H. Kate Huei-wen WEN Eric YAO Diane YING
Executive Director
Kathy HONG
Cloud Gate Dance Theatre of Taiwan
| Founder | LIN Hwai-min | |
| Artistic Director | CHENG Tsung-lung | |
| Associate Artistic Director | LEE Ching-chun | |
| Rehearsal Director | YANG Ling-kai | |
| Rehearsal Assistants | HUANG Mei-ya WU Jui-ying YEH Po-sheng | |
| Qi Gong Masters | HSIUNG Wei LEE Guo-wei | |
| Internal Martial Arts Masters | Adam Chi HSU CHEN Chun-lung | |
| Ballet Teachers | LIN Li-chuan WU Ching-yin | |
| Modern Dance Teachers | HUANG Pei-hua TSAI Ming-yuan | |
| Popping Teacher | Popping ED | |
| Accompanists | HONG Jia-ling KUO Tsung-han LIANG Chun-mei WU Jia-jin |
Dancer
CHEN Mu-han HOU Tang-li HUANG Mei-ya
LEE Tzu-chun WU Jui-ying YEH Po-sheng
CHAN Pui pui CHEN Lien-wei CHEN Tsung-chiao CHOU Chen-yeh
FAN Chia-hsuan HSU Chih-hen HUANG Lu-kai
HUANG Po-kai HUANG Yen-cheng SHAO Hsing-wen YEN Hsueh-hsin
CHANG Hung-mao CHANG Pei-cheng HUANG Hsiang-ting WANG Chun-hung
Apprentice
LIN Sin-yu Annette Lyn SEOW WU Tsung-yang
| Project Manager | CHUANG Ting-chi | |
| Project Assistant | TSENG Mei-hua (Margaux) |
Administrative Staff on Tour
Technical Staff on Tour
| Deputy Production Director | CHUNG Pin-yueh (Jason) | |
| Stage Manager | CHEN Chia-ju | |
| Technical Director | KAO Tang-chieh | |
| Lighting Supervisor | TSENG Yen-min | |
| Wardrobe Supervisor | HSU Wen-wen | |
| Swing Technician | YANG Buo-an | |
| Sound Engineer | LIOU Yun-chang |