50 years of Cloud Gate
In response to the 2008 fire that destroyed its Bali studio, Cloud Gate worked with the New Taipei City Government, raising its own funds for construction while the city provided a 1.5 hectare site (formerly occupied by Radio Taiwan International) for the company’s self-administered use.
“On a small slope next to the expansive lawn on the grounds, there is a steel shipping container that survived the fire at Bali. Looking out from one end, you can see Mt. Guanyin rising above the opposite bank of the Tamsui River. Bali, at the foot of the mountain, is where Cloud Gate used to be based for 16 years.” Cheng sometimes comes here to gather his thoughts, as he reflects on how Lin Hwai-min brought the company and its dancers along the long road that eventually led here.
Upon leaving the container tempered by fire, walking down a small path to near the entrance of the grounds, there is a small shrine to the Land God. During traditional holidays, Cheng leads members of the group to pray here, expressing gratitude for the location’s safety and peace.
Cheng joined Cloud Gate in 2002 after graduating from the dance program at Taipei National University of the Arts. The company was the base from which he launched his career, and in the years following he went on many global tours with it. Today he is taking steps to give the company an even more international orientation, to make the Cloud Gate Theater campus into a truly global arts center. “Cloud Gate has taken in all manner of human talent and fashioned much that is beautiful, much like how clouds in the sky absorb moisture from the environment, constantly grow, and form new shapes until the moisture is sufficient to become sweet rain that nourishes people’s hearts and minds.” This is Cheng’s take on Cloud Gate’s 50th anniversary.
A statue of Lo Man-fei in a lotus pond in the theater grounds memorializes one of Cloud Gate’s leading lights.
For Cloud Gate’s 50th year, founder Lin Hwai-min led the company in rehearsals of his work Legacy. This photo of Lin with Cloud Gate dancers from many eras bears witness to how the company’s own legacy has been passed down from generation to generation.