Cloud Gate Dance Theatre of Taiwan: 13 Tongues
One of Asia’s leading contemporary dance companies, Cloud Gate Dance Theatre of Taiwan, will finally be seen in Helsinki.
Bangka, Taipei’s oldest district, was known in the 1980s for its vibrant street life, where the religious and the secular, the wealthy and the poor intertwined. As a child, Cloud Gate’s artistic director Cheng Tsung-lung sold slippers on the district’s streets with his father and became fascinated by his mother’s stories of a legendary storyteller from the 1960s, nicknamed “Thirteen Tongues”, who had made those very streets his stage.
Now, thirty years later, Cheng has transformed his childhood memories into a visually stunning work for 13 dancers, where the bustle of historic streets and Taoist traditions blend seamlessly with the present day. The stage is bathed in abundant colours and forms, and the soundscape flows from Taiwanese folk songs to Taoist chanting and electronic music. The virtuosic 13 Tongues weaves together the spiritual and the worldly, taking the audience on an imaginative journey through centuries-old traditions and beliefs.
Choreographer Lin Hwai-min founded Cloud Gate in 1973 as the first contemporary dance company in a Chinese-speaking community. Since 2020, the company has been led by artistic director Cheng Tsung-lung, an internationally awarded choreographer whose work draws on ancient and contemporary Taiwanese traditions. 13 Tongues has been performed around the world since 2016, including at Dansens Hus in Stockholm, Stanford Live in California, and the National Centre for the Performing Arts in Beijing.
Choreography: CHENG Tsung-lung
Music: LIM Giong
Artistic design: HO Chia-hsing
Lighting design: SHEN Po-hung
Projection design: Ethan WANG
Costume design: LIN Bing-hao
Vocal coach: TSAI Pao-chang
Commissioned by: National Performing Arts Center – National Theater & Concert Hall, Taipei
In co-operation with:
Jane and Aatos Erkko Foundation
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Please note that due to technical reasons, the tickets cannot be resold on fanSale.
