On stage, we will see twelve dancers and their avatars in a performance created by choreographer Cheng Tsung-lung and digital artist Daito Manabe for the 50th anniversary of Cloud Gate, a Taiwanese ‘fusion company’ renowned for combining Eastern practices and Western dance. We meet him on the occasion of his European premiere at the 18th. Dance Biennale.
The fusion in Cheng’s new show, who is also Cloud Gate’s artistic director, also involves dance and technology. In WAVES, the movements of the bodies interfere with the waves generated by Manabe’s sounds, while the dancers’ muscular and respiratory activity is transformed into data processed by AI. Will technology change dance? “Every form of language has its necessity,” says Cheng Tsung-lung. But he warns: never forget that dance has the power to deeply connect with one’s inner self.
This performance was created to celebrate the 50th anniversary of Cloud Gate. Please, tell us about your experience as the artistic director of one of the most prestigious dance companies in the world.
Since 2020, the world has faced the pandemic, its inconveniences, and the loss of many lives, which is depressing and sad. The old generation in the East believes in fate and Feng Shui. There was a moment when I worried whether I was out of luck, having just taken over the responsibility as artistic director only to see the world come to a halt. However, I later realized that it was a gift to me. Over the past three years, the Cloud Gate’s dancers and I continued to create, producing three new works: Sounding Light, Send in a Cloud, and WAVES. We didn’t stop exploring due to the pandemic. We continued our daily practices, a mixture of Eastern and Western training. At the height of the pandemic, we kept our energy and spirit up through online sessions, engaged in in-depth one-on-one video conversations, and visited each other’s inner worlds when the actual travel was restricted. The world has changed tremendously, but the 50-year-old Cloud Gate has given us a sense of stability amid the storm. This feeling helped me find the direction in creating WAVES.
How would you describe the language through which WAVES expresses itself, and how does the work of Daito Manabe, a digital artist, composer, DJ, and programmer, intertwine with your choreography?
This choreography is very different from my previous works. Daito Manabe and his team brought various tools like electromyography sensors and cameras, using technological devices to capture the dancers’ muscle and breathing data. Then these data are processed by AI to produce perceivable colours, sounds, and other energies.
In WAVES, the dancers’“intuition and intention” create fresh landscapes on stage. To me, the dancers’ bodies are electrified, much like how the invention of oil paint changed the style of painting of its time. The LED screens in WAVES are like canvases, and the data serves as the dancers’ paint.
By collaborating with Daito Manabe, we conducted various experiments. It felt like being electrified, with many currents and even turbulence among Manabe, the dancers, and me. Instead of completely rejecting or fully embracing technology, I choose to extend an olive branch, learning a new language. The dancers’ movements might originate from contemporary dance and derive from traditional rituals or Tai Chi Dao Yin, a form of Qi Gong; however, using AI-generated imagery and music, is there a chance to spark new possibilities? This is what WAVES aims to convey: Through distinct forms of energy, we can see different dynamics and kinetic potentials, and it seems like everything can communicate and be connected.
Language is a skin: I rub my language against the other. It is as if I had words instead of fingers, or fingers at the tip of my words. My language trembles with desire.”
In your works, East and West not only find a meeting point but also a fusion. In Dorian Gray (2014), e.g., the work of one of the greatest Western literary figures is put in dialogue with body movements inspired by ancient Taiwanese rituals. In what elements of your new work do we find these two worlds reflected, both so present in your production?
The boundaries between the East and the West are not obvious in my daily life. Taiwan is a salad bowl of diverse cultures, where you can spot an Eastern temple next to a Western church on the same street, and a bubble tea shop right next to a café serving Italian expresso. Therefore, when I create, I don’t particularly think of something to be Eastern or Western. Du Lian Kui is the Taiwanese version of The Picture of Dorian Gray. The author, Wang Da-Hong, noted upon its publication that “human nature is not divided by ancient or modern, nor by the East or the West.” The essence of the work comes from human nature. He transformed Oscar Wilde’s depiction of late nineteenth-century London into the 1970s in Taipei, changing the time, places, and characters. Despite these differences, the story remains fully presentable. I am fascinated by this kind of juxtaposition. For instance, my work 13 Tongues portrays various aspects of my hometown, Banga district, including its street scenes, languages, colours of the shops, and temple culture. However, when performing this dance piece around the world, many audiences told me that they were deeply moved and could see a common source of human values and consensus. I often say that I hope to be like a litmus test, keenly gauging the impression of the era and reflecting the state of society through my work. Therefore, I believe that art should evoke universal values. It shouldn’t be just a reflection of two worlds or a fusion of technology, but rather a spiritual dialogue.
In 13 Tongues (2016), your exploration delved into the possibilities of understanding and expressing reality through different languages. Now, with artificial intelligence, this research may extend towards infinity, towards a language as universal and elegant as the binary system of computers, one and zero, “to be or not to be”… How do you think technology will influence the world of dance in the coming years?
I believe that AI and future advancements in technology are forms of language. The body itself is also a language. Before WAVES, Cloud Gate’s physical training – the way we “move” – was already ingrained in me and the dancers. However, when I began creating WAVES, I wondered if there was a way to break free from these habitual patterns. In physics, when two waves of different frequencies interfere with each other, new forms emerge, much like the various languages we use. Every form of language has its necessity, including body language and technological language. My concern is that in our accelerating and chaotic technological world, we might gradually lose the use of “dance” or the “body.” Yet, dance is such a pure form of creation, deeply connected with one’s inner self – a movement involving the entire body and mind. I hope we don’t ever forget this power.
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