Cloud Gate Dance Theatre of Taiwan: ’13 Tongues’
Los Angeles, CA (September 25, 2022) – The world-renowned Cloud Gate Dance Theatre of Taiwan returns to Southern California to present their acclaimed production 13 Tongues at October 26. This performance will take place at the Segerstrom Center of Costa Mesa.
https://www.scfta.org/events/2022/cloud-gate-dance-theatre-of-taiwan
Cloud Gate Dance Theatre of Taiwan in 13 Tongues. Photo By Liu Chen-hsiang
The work is inspired by Cloud Gate Artistic Director Cheng Tsung-lung’s memories of the vibrantly diverse and bustling street scenes of Bangka—Taipei’s oldest district, and his mother’s accounts of the legendary 1960s street artist and story-teller known as “Thirteen Tongues.”
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 colors, shapes and images, as the dancers gather, interact, separate and re-gather in a thrilling representation of street life. As the religious heritage of ancient Bangka fuses with the secular space it is today, time appears to dissolve. The spirit realm and the human realm also coalesce as the audience is taken on an immersive journey— recalling the art of legendary street artist and storyteller “Thirteen Tongues” — through centuries of human endeavor, behavior, and belief.
13 Tongues features all the magic, beauty and astonishing ensemble dancing that hypnotized audiences when Cloud Gate made their Center debut in 2018.
Cloud Gate Dance Theatre of Taiwan, founded in 1973 by choreographer Lin Hwai-min as the first contemporary dance company in any Chinese-speaking community, blends its roots in Asian mythology, folklore, and aesthetics with a modern sensibility. Praised for reaching “back to ancient wisdom and ahead to future fruitfulness, with a cool, unforced yet insistent power” (The Washington Post), the company has made a significant impact on the international dance community.
In 2020, Lin Hwai-min handed the reins to Cheng Tsung-lung as Artistic Director, and the company returns now to the Segerstrom Center to embrace a new era while celebrating its history. For 13 Tongues, the new artistic director recalls his mother’s stories about “Thirteen Tongues,” a legendary street artist in the 1960s. Cheng transforms his childhood memory of the sights, sounds, and vitality of Bangka—Taipei’s oldest district—into an exquisite fantasy world.
