Cloud Gate’s Cheng Tsung-lung

2020 was also the year that Cheng was included in the book Fifty Contemporary Choreographers among such dance luminaries as William Forsythe, Akram Khan, and Dimitris Papaioannou. Cheng was the only Taiwanese included in the third edition of the guide, published by Routledge. Company founder Lin Hwai-min had been included in the second edition back in 2011. Cheng’s inclusion on the current list, a true mark of global renown in dance, bears witness to the capabilities of Lin’s successor at Cloud Gate, where Cheng is building on Cloud Gate’s 50-year legacy as he guides it to new heights.

Memories of growing up in Taipei’s Wanhua District (Báng-kah) have always been a source of inspiration for Cheng, whether or not a conscious part of his creative process. His years at Cloud Gate have also left an indelible mark on his life.

Since taking the baton from company founder Lin Hwai-min, Cloud Gate’s artistic director Cheng Tsung-lung has shown the world that he can capably keep the company on track and moving toward new heights.

Lungshan Temple and Guangzhou Street:

Life among the common people

“Lungshan Temple was my childhood playground. I’d often station myself at the side of its fish pools and watch the koi. It was enchanting.” Those scenes are deeply implanted in Cheng’s memories. In 13 Tongues, the appearance of a big red koi that marks the dancers’ transition from black and white to vibrant color always amazes audiences. This long work also draws inspiration from the stories that Cheng’s mother told him about old Wanhua. At dusk each night a storyteller would come out to perform. He’d play multiple roles, male and female, from general to maidservant, all with voices so distinct that it earned him the moniker “13 Tongues.” And so Cheng chose that name for the dance, inspired by what he saw and felt as he squatted on a plastic sheet on Guangzhou Street helping his father sell slippers. Cheng used various sounds to offer his impressions of the Wanhua of his youth.

“At the Lungshan Temple, the many sides of humanity and the vicissitudes of fate were all on display, whether it was the wealthy offering red envelopes to beggars in front of the temple or peddlers in the surrounding streets selling goods to present as offerings to the deities.” At night, the street scenes where the Cheng family set up their stall were of a similar ilk. In one direction a puppet theater group or lion dancers might be performing. In front of them a beggar might be crawling along the ground, and to the side a fierce-looking man might be hawking underwear. Those slices of everyday life among the common people have continued to provide him with creative sustenance as a choreographer.

Lungshan Temple was one of Cheng’s childhood playgrounds. The rich scenes of life among the common people that it has long provided continue to inform Cheng’s creativity.

Childhood memories of watching Eight Generals troupes at Wanhua’s Qingshan Temple inspired Cheng’s choreography of Lunar Halo and 13 Tongues.

Qingshan Temple, Bopiliao, Dongsanshui Street:

Childhood experiences inspiring choreography

“My mother often took me with her to various temples,” he recalls. “On virtually any day that was marked red in the lunar almanac, she would go to a temple to pray. She was very devout.” From childhood temple visits with his parents, Cheng remembered how the voices and expressions of young jitong spirit mediums would be completely altered when they entered a state of possession. Those memories informed his 2015 work Beckoning, for which dancers adopt all manner of poses, letting the energy of the next movement guide them. Just as a jitong waits for a spirit to flip the switch that changes him into a vehicle of divine power, dancers in the work feel for “the moment to arrive” as they transform themselves in dance. And Cheng’s memories of Eight Generals troupe performances at the Qingshan and Qingshui Temples in Wanhua served as a template for dancers’ movements in his works Lunar Halo and 13 Tongues.

When discussion turns to the historic Bopiliao area of Wanhua, what comes to mind for Cheng is the smells of cooking and the laughter and chit-chat of neighbors.

Then there’s the Dongsanshui Street Market, where memories also abound. “When I was little, I often came here with my dad to buy food and other things. Now, every time I come, I’ll think of how I purchased fish balls with my father at this stall, or sushi at that stall. Scenes from years ago naturally float into my mind.”

Cheng’s mother once lived in Wanhua’s historic Bopiliao area, and Cheng has memories of his grandfather tending his noodle stall at a street corner here.

Cheng would often accompany his father when he went to the Dongsanshui Street Market, which is full of tasty treats and daily necessities. For Cheng, the market abounds with memories of his father.

Huaxi and Xinfu:

Night markets as symbols of old and new

As for what best represents Wanhua, it’s none other than the Huaxi Street Night Market. In Cheng’s recollections, the market was a very special place. Everyone there was full of character, and their comings and goings never failed to prick his curiosity. “Even though the market has been transformed into a gourmet night market for regular people, the streetlife surrounding it still abounds with the flavor of old Taipei. It always spurs a sense of nostalgia.”

Cheng has been amazed by the transformation of the Xinfu Market. Apart from the rarely seen horseshoe shape of the original architecture, there is also the rarity of a Japanese-era public market restored to its original appearance. Although its current cultured ambience is quite different from the impressions Cheng had of it as a child, the juxtaposition of old and new provides food for his aesthetic imagination.

Wanhua’s Xinfu Market, which dates to the Japanese era, has been turned into a cultural base that embodies a unique blend of old and new.

Cloud Gate Theater:

Under the shelter of big trees

The Cloud Gate Theater is located between a golf course and the historic Hobe Fort in Tamsui. It offers distant views of Mt. Guanyin and the Tamsui River. Its grounds are landscaped with wonderful trees, plants and lawns. There are some 200 trees planted by the company founder Lin Hwai-min himself, including a sacred fig transplanted from the company’s original site in Bali. There is a big 100-year-old bishopwood tree that spans over the “Tree House,” a study center repurposed from the dormitory of an old radio station. And there is a plum tree that Lin’s mother had originally planted next to the com­pany’s old Bali rehearsal space, which accompanied the dancers through thousands of rehearsals. Although scorched by the fire that ravaged the Bali site, it has shown tremendous resilience and vitality. In its new transplanted location, it is still covered with white blooms every year, offering much hope and comfort to company members.

The theater’s largest auditorium can seat an audience of more than 400. The rounded building is mainly sheathed in glass, providing views of the verdant landscape on all sides, giving audiences a fresh experience of enjoying performances in nature’s embrace. The building also has two galleries, featuring many photographs, including group photos of Lo Man-fei and the other dancers dancing in the old rehearsal studio in Bali in 1992 and of the company at the rehearsal space after the fire in 2008, and a photo from 2013 of “Crossing the Black Water” from Legacy being performed in a field at Chishang. Cheng often comes to the galleries to remind himself of each of these moments of dance. He believes that many similar beautiful moments are still to come.

On the grounds of Cloud Gate is a metal shipping container salvaged from the fire at the company’s original home base in Bali. From one end it now offers distant views of Bali across the Tamsui River.

Viewed from below, the Cloud Gate Theater building resembles a tree protecting the members of the company with its large canopy.

Cheng often visits the facility’s gallery, which is filled with photographs that capture beautiful moments of Cloud Gate dance. He is sure the future will hold many more such moments.

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.