Cloud Gate Dance Theatre of Taiwan, one of the world’s most acclaimed contemporary dance companies, brings its powerful and poetic choreography to Forum am Schlosspark. Blending Eastern philosophy with modern movement, the performance offers a deeply immersive and visually striking experience.
Cloud Gate Dance Theatre of Taiwan is internationally renowned for its unique artistic language that fuses contemporary dance, traditional Asian aesthetics, martial arts, calligraphy, and meditation practices. Founded in 1973 by legendary choreographer Lin Hwai-min, Cloud Gate has become a cultural symbol of Taiwan and a leading voice in global contemporary dance.
Presented at Forum am Schlosspark, the company invites audiences into a world of refined movement, inner concentration, and philosophical depth. Every performance is marked by exceptional discipline, expressive clarity, and a profound connection between body, space, and spirit. Cloud Gate’s works transcend cultural boundaries, offering a universal reflection on time, humanity, and the search for harmony.
This evening promises a rare encounter with one of the most influential dance companies of our time on one of Ludwigsburg’s most prestigious stages.
Using subtle nuances of movement, light, and sound, choreographer Cheng Tsung-long depicts a forest day in a self-sufficient ecosystem. Cloud Gate's twelve dancers sway like blades of grass in the wind or leap like whimsical insects, performing the mating dances of magnificent birds, transforming into falling rain and flowing water. And they create their own music—with voice and breath, finger snaps, body percussion, whistling, and chirping—their bodies become acoustic instruments singing to untouched nature.
Taiwan's Cloud Gate Dance Theatre has previously paid homage to bamboo, moonlight, and wind. Now, Cheng Tsung-long succeeds legendary director Lin Huai-ming, performing on a bright, spacious stage with synesthetic associations, carving leaves and silky waves with their hands, allowing the animal pulse to live within their bodies. Perhaps this is paradise, perhaps the world after the apocalypse—either way, you sit, mesmerized by such beauty. Until the forest falls asleep again at sunset.