Home > Events > Cloud Gate Dance Theatre of Taiwan: 13 Tongues
Cloud Gate Dance Theatre of Taiwan: 13 Tongues
THIS EVENT HAS EXPIRED

 

Cloud Gate Dance Theatre of Taiwan: 13 Tongues

 

Cloud Gate Dance Theatre of Taiwan: 13 Tongues

Date

October 1, 2022

Time

THIS EVENT HAS EXPIRED

Price

Tickets start at $39

Time

THIS EVENT HAS EXPIRED

MULTI-BUY
Choose 4+ shows and save up to 25% off single ticket prices (excludes specials). 

 

STUDENTS
$15 Student Tickets available in Price Level 4. Promo code: STUDENT15

 

MEMBERS
Get priority access, free exchanges, donor benefits, and more, starting at just $25 per year.

 

Join Now

MULTI-BUY
Choose 4+ shows and save up to 25% off single ticket prices (excludes specials). 

 

STUDENTS
$15 Student Tickets available in Price Level 4. Promo code: STUDENT15

 

MEMBERS
Get priority access, free exchanges, donor benefits, and more, starting at just $25 per year.

 

Join Now

Support & Save

Members enjoy priority access, discounts, and more, starting at $25 per year.

Learn More

"A sensationally big, indulgent and visually arresting expression of cultural memory."
The Times, London


Sponsored by:

Part of the Tudor Family Dance Series

Series SponsorsTudor Family logo compact711 FIT


Presenting Partners

ast logo

Taiwan academy EPS file


Sponsored in part by:

Ministry of Culture, Republic of China (Taiwan)Ministry of Culture Taiwan logo

Society for the Performing Arts Foundation

13 Tongues 
Choreography by CHENG Tsung-lung

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, legal and illegal activities. The young CHENG was transfixed by his mother’s accounts of the legendary 1960s street artist and story-teller known as “Thirteen Tongues” who had adopted Bangka for his informal stage. It was said that “Thirteen 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 CHENG’s fascination for “Thirteen Tongues” became his inspiration as he transformed his own 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 chant 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 fuses with the secular space it is today so 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 “Thirteen Tongues”—through centuries of human endeavor, behavior, and belief

Photo by LEE Chia-yeh

"A sensationally big, indulgent and visually arresting expression of cultural memory."
The Times, London


Sponsored by:

Part of the Tudor Family Dance Series

Series SponsorsTudor Family logo compact711 FIT


Presenting Partners

ast logo

Taiwan academy EPS file


Sponsored in part by:

Ministry of Culture, Republic of China (Taiwan)Ministry of Culture Taiwan logo

Society for the Performing Arts Foundation

For ADA information, please contact the Box Office at 713-227-4772 or email info@performingartshouston.org.