As part of its 2022 touring performance in the US, Taiwan's Cloud Gate Dance Theater will present its classic production "13 Tongues" at Wortham Center's Cullen Theater in Houston on October 1.
In "13 Tongues," Cheng Tsung-Lung (鄭宗龍), a choreographer and the artistic director of Cloud Gate, transforms his childhood memories of the streets of Bangka into a fantastical, dreamlike world; fusing ancient superstitions, religious rites, and modern Taipei culture.
Cheng has always been fascinated by his mother’s stories about "Thirteen Tongues," a street artist in the 1960s. It was said that the work 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.
Beginning and ending with the sound of a single hand bell, the music accompanying 13 Tongues is crafted by seasoned musician Lim Giong(林強), and it ranges from Taiwanese folk songs to Taoist chant, to electronica. On a stage awash with projections of colors, shapes, and images, dancers gather, interact, separate, and then come together again in a vibrant representation of the clamor of street life.
Previously, the work received high acclaim from The Times, one of Britain's oldest and most influential newspapers, commenting that the performance is "a sensationally big, indulgent and visually arresting expression of cultural memory."
Born in 1976, Cheng graduated from the Dance Department of the Taipei National University of the Arts. He joined Cloud Gate as a dancer in 2002 and succeeded the founder of the troupe, Lin Hwai-min (林懷民), as artistic director starting in 2020. In 2021, he was listed as one of the "50 Contemporary Choreographers" in the 3rd edition of the dance guide published by the British multinational publisher, Routledge.
For more information and to purchase tickets, please click here.
(Photo courtesy of Cloud Gate Dance Theater)