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Cloud Gate Dance Theater to resume international performances with US tour

  • Date:2022-03-18
Cloud Gate Dance Theater to resume international performances with US tour

Taiwan's Cloud Gate Dance Theater will launch a new production "Send in a Cloud (霞)," and resume international tours in the United States with its dance performance titled "13 Tongues (十三聲)" this year. The group will tour Chicago, Washington D.C. (The Kennedy Center), Houston, Stanford, Berkeley, and other cities.

In "13 Tongues," Cloud Gate artistic director Cheng Tsung-lung (鄭宗龍) transforms his childhood memory of the Taoist rites and bustling street life of Bangka into a fantasy world. This work takes the audience on a journey where lines between spheres of deities, spirits and human beings are subtly dissolved. In the performance of "Send in a Cloud," dancers reveal facets of self-loneliness, hesitation, fear. Their bodies – whether in movement or stillness – appear against shifting bursts of color, animating the creative processes of the human experience.

Speaking of Cloud Gate's new work, Cheng said that there will be two versions of "Send in a Cloud" presented by two groups of dancers. The two versions share the use of Johann Sebastian Bach’s Six Solo Cello Suites arranged and performed by Japanese musician Yasuaki Shimizu (清水靖晃) with his group, the Saxophonettes.

This time, Cloud Gate specially invited Grammy Award-winning sound designer Marcelo Anez to build a distinctive sound stage for the performance of "Send in a Cloud." Previously, Marcelo Anez asked the dancers to record ambient sounds that are representative of them. These recordings include sounds of silence in a room, mahjong, garden and more, which will help to create more artistic styles for their works.

Although the COVID-19 pandemic disrupted Cloud Gate's plans over the past two years, it also pushed the group to try new approaches to developing productions and promoting the art form of dance, said Cheng. This year, Cloud Gate plans to organize a total of 107 local and overseas performances. Cloud Gate will also resume large-scale outdoor performances that Taiwan’s audiences have been expecting.

For more information, please visit Cloud Gate's website.

(Photo courtesy of Cloud Gate Dance Theater)