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It’s ‘more manic’ than ever, says Cheng Tsung-lung of Taiwan’s Cloud Gate Dance Company
Artistic director Cheng Tsung-lung shares why movement is vital in the AI era ahead of the troupe’s first performance in Hong Kong since 2019
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It has been seven years since Taiwan’s legendary Cloud Gate Dance Theatre performed in Hong Kong, and in his first interview in the city since taking charge, artistic director Cheng Tsung-lung says the return allows Hongkongers to see the shift in energy since the departure of his predecessor Lin Hwai-min.
“I am from a different era from him, and we live in a different era now, so I hope the Hong Kong audience will appreciate how Cloud Gate has changed – we have become more manic!” Cheng tells the South China Morning Post ahead of Cloud Gate’s performances of Lunar Halo – a production choreographed by Cheng that premiered in Taiwan in 2019 – at the Xiqu Centre in West Kowloon from July 10 to 12.
Lin, who founded Cloud Gate in 1973, stepped down at the end of 2019. He was known for pioneering a blend of Asian and Western cultural traditions and imbuing the company with its hallmark hypnotic beauty – epitomised in works such as Moon Water (1998) and the Cursive trilogy (2001-2005).
This signature style came from a cross-fertilisation of the many things Lin has studied: tai chi, qigong, Chinese calligraphy, ballet, Peking opera, New York modern dance movements and classical court dance in South Korea and Japan.
Cheng stresses he has retained the rigorous physical foundations Lin nurtured in Cloud Gate’s dancers while adding his own interpretation of our hyper-digitised world.
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