Courtesy photo.
Innovative Contemporary Dance from Cloud Gate and Artistic Director Cheng Tsung-lung
SUMMARY
- Sat, Nov 2 | 7:30 p.m. | The Granada Theatre
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- Contemporary dance at its most innovative and spectacular
- Ancient and modern images set to a dazzling range of musical idioms
- An immersive multimedia expression of distinctive Taiwanese sights, sounds and stories
- Due to the nature of this event, late seating will not be permitted
- $48.50 – $108.50 / $20 UCSB Students (Current student ID required)
- Tickets & Info: www.ArtsAndLectures.UCSB.edu or (805) 893-3535; or The Granada Theatre, (805) 899-2222
“13 Tongues is a sensationally big, indulgent, and visually arresting expression of cultural memory.” The Times (U.K.)
“When you’re talking about Cloud Gate, magic is not too strong a word.” Time Out
SANTA BARBARA — UCSB Arts & Lectures presents Cloud Gate Dance Theatre of Taiwan’s 13 Tongues on Saturday, November 2 at 7:30 p.m. at The Granada Theatre. In 13 Tongues, Cloud Gate Dance Theatre of Taiwan brings the sights and sounds of Taiwan’s legendary night markets to life in all their human and spiritual dimensions. Mixing traditional storytelling with futuristic imagery and shifting between folk, classical and electronic music sources, 13 Tongues delivers an unforgettable experience of contemporary dance at its most innovative and spectacular. Drawing on childhood memories of a famous street performer from 1980s Taipei, Artistic Director Cheng Tsung-lung and the Cloud Gate dancers weave a brilliant tapestry of ancient and modern images set to a dazzling range of musical idioms.
Due to the nature of this event, late seating will not be permitted.
Cloud Gate, 13 Tongues by Cheng Tsung-lung
ABOUT THE PROGRAM 13 TONGUES
As a child in the 1980s, Cloud Gate Artistic Director Cheng Tsung-lung would contribute to the family business by helping his father sell slippers on the streets of Bangka/Wanhua, the oldest district of Taipei. Bangka was known for its vibrantly diverse and bustling street scene that embraced religious and secular life, rich and poor, work and play, and legal and illegal activities. The young Tsung-lung was transfixed by his mother’s accounts of the legendary 1960s street artist and storyteller known as “13 Tongues” who had adopted Bangka for his informal stage.
It was said that “13 Tongues” 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. Thirty years on, Tsung-lung’s fascination for “13 Tongues” became his inspiration as he transformed his childhood memories into dance.
Beginning and ending with the sound of a single hand bell, the music accompanying 13 Tongues ranges from Taiwanese folk songs to Taoist chants to electronica. The stage is awash with projections of brilliant colors, shapes and images and the dancers gather, interact, separate and re-gather in a thrilling representation of the clamor of street life. As the religious heritage of ancient Bangka/Wanhua 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 – via imagination and storytelling that recalls the art of “13 Tongues” – through centuries of human endeavor, behavior, and belief.
ABOUT CLOUD GATE DANCE THEATRE OF TAIWAN
Cloud Gate is the name of the oldest known dance company in China. In 1973, choreographer Lin Hwai-min adopted this classical name and founded the first contemporary dance company in the greater Chinese-speaking community. In 2020, Cheng Tsung-lung became the company’s Artistic Director, bringing together his creative works with traditional roots and excitingly innovative perspectives from the digital and globalized world. In 2023, Cloud Gate ushered in its 50th anniversary.
Cloud Gate dancers receive training in meditation; Qi Gong, an ancient breathing exercise; internal martial arts; modern dance and ballet. Manifesting in choreographies, the company transforms ancient aesthetics into a thrilling and modern celebration of motion.
Cloud Gate has toured worldwide with frequent engagements at the Next Wave Festival in New York, the Sadler’s Wells Theatre in London, the Moscow Chekhov International Theatre Festival in Russia, the Movimentos International Dance Festival and the Internationales Tanzfest NRW directed by Pina Bausch in Germany. The international press acclaimed the company as “Asia’s leading contemporary dance theater” (The Times), and “one of the best dance companies in the world” (FAZ).
ABOUT ARTISTIC DIRECTOR CHENG TSUNG-LUNG
From street hawker selling slippers to internationally recognized choreographer, Cheng Tsung-lung succeeded Lin Hwai-min as Artistic Director of Cloud Gate Dance Theatre of Taiwan in 2020.
Tsung-lung took his first dance class at the age of 8. Upon graduation from the Dance Department, Taipei National University of the Arts, he joined Cloud Gate in 2002 and became the Artistic Director of Cloud Gate 2 in 2014.
He won top prizes in international choreography competitions, including the Premio Roma Danza International Choreography Competition, and became widely known in the dance world for breathtaking works inspired by the street life and folk religion that was part of his upbringing in the oldest commercial district of Taipei.
Tsung-lung’s works exude a humble beauty rooted in Asian culture. His 13 Tongues (2016) incorporated folk steps, religious rites and Taoist chanting into a contemporary expression, and received rave reviews in France, Germany and China. French media credited it as “a triumph…appealing to the eyes.” Full Moon (2017), commissioned by Sydney Dance Company, has been acclaimed in Paris and Sydney. Set to music specially arranged by Sigur Rós and hailed as a work of “fierce beauty,” Lunar Halo (2019) brought the house down in its premiere season and garnered invitations worldwide. Sounding Light (2020) reflects on the relationship between humans and nature, being praised as a “beautifully crafted work, bearing repeated viewings.” Visually stunning, Send In A Cloud (2022) displays in shifting colors a panorama of dancers’ life journeys.
Tsung-lung has been a fixture of Routledge’s respected annual survey of dance practitioners, Fifty Contemporary Choreographers (2020), alongside the likes of William Forsythe, Akram Khan, Hofesh Shechter and other leaders in the form.
ABOUT UCSB ARTS & LECTURES
Founded in 1959, UCSB Arts & Lectures (A&L) is the largest and most influential arts and lectures organization between Los Angeles and San Francisco. A&L annually presents more than a hundred public events, from critically acclaimed concerts and dance performances by world-renowned artists to talks by groundbreaking authors and film series at UCSB and Santa Barbara-area venues. With a mission to “educate, entertain and inspire,” A&L also oversees an outreach program that brings visiting artists and speakers into local classrooms and other venues for master classes, open rehearsals, discussions and more, serving K-12 students, college students and the general public.
Cloud Gate Dance Theatre of Taiwan 13 Tongues is presented by UCSB Arts & Lectures.
Dance Series Sponsors: Margo Cohen-Feinberg, Barbara Stupay, and Sheila Wald
Presented in association with UCSB Department of Theater and Dance.
Tickets are $48.50 – $108.50 / $20 UCSB students (Current student ID required)
For tickets or more information, call UCSB Arts & Lectures at (805) 893-3535 or purchase online at www.ArtsAndLectures.UCSB.edu; or The Granada Theatre, (805) 899-2222
Special thanks to the Santa Barbara Independent.
Special thanks to the Voice Magazine.
UCSB Arts & Lectures gratefully acknowledges 2024-2025 Season Sponsor Sara Miller McCune.
UCSB Arts & Lectures gratefully acknowledges our Community Partners the Natalie Orfalea Foundation & Lou Buglioli for their generous support of the 2024-2025 season.