2020 Cloud Gate Dance Theater: Sounding Light

Cloud Gate Dance Theater: Sounding Light
雲門舞集《定光》

commissioned and collaborated with the Cloudgate Contemporary Dance Company & choreographer Tsung-Lung Cheng

As was the case for so many people, the Covid pandemic prompted Cloud Gate Artistic Director CHENG Tsung-lung to consider the world around him afresh. During a period of enforced self-isolation in Taiwan, at a time when human activity and noise pollution were at a minimum, he listened to the sounds of the forest -- the insects, the birds, the wind through the trees -- and reflected on the balance between, and the frailties of, human life and the natural environment.

In SOUNDING LIGHT, played out under the arc of the sun shining through clouds and trees over the course of a day, CHENG has integrated sound and dance, but not in the form of a separate soundtrack and performance.

Here, the dancers provide much of the soundtrack as a natural element of their performance as they move to suggest the mating rituals of birds or insect-like contortions so their bodies become instruments. Working with composers LIM Giong and CHANG Shiuan, they utilize voice and breath, the sounds, if not meanings, of Taiwanese dialects, finger clicks, hand claps, the slapping of their bodies, and the stage. From this extraordinary sound palette, the dancers create the impression of the breeze, of insects and birds, of falling rain and of running water, and their bodies - testing the limits of physical and mental focus - ultimately reveal the essence of both the human and natural worlds while simultaneously merging them.

Artist Credits

Concept/ChoreographyCHENG Tsung-lung
MusicLIM Giong
Sound and VoiceCHANG Shiuan
Lighting DesignLulu W.L. LEE
Costume DesignCHEN Shao-yen
Music Director of Cloud GateLIANG Chun-mei
Chinese inscriptionTONG Yang-tze
Co-production