Dance

For almost five decades, Cloud Gate Dance Theatre’s world famous founder-choreographer Lin Hwai-min has brought Asian cultures to the world’s stage through spellbinding dance. In end of 2019 Lin will step down from his role as the company’s artistic director. This farewell gala highlights Cloud Gate classics that have mesmerized audiences across the globe with their unique aesthetics.

Lin Hwai-min: Five decades of showcasing Asia’s cultures through dance

An evening retrospective programme of an Asian dance legend

“Cloud Gate affirmed the glory of beauty itself” The New York Times
“Dances like no other company in the world” Dance Europe
“A foremost innovator of dance”
The jury of the International Movimentos Dance Prize (Germany)

In the same year that saw the first HKAF, Lin Hwai-min founded Taiwan’s now world-famous Cloud Gate Dance Theatre. A choreographer, stage and lighting designer, he has been the company’s artistic driving force from the start. Among the first to bring contemporary dance to the Chinese world, he has been called “one of Asia’s heroes” by Time magazine (2005).

Drawing on traditions from both East and West, Cloud Gate is unlike any other major dance ensemble. Its performers are trained in meditation, qi gong, internal martial arts, modern dance, ballet and calligraphy. They transform ancient aesthetics into thrilling, modern celebrations of movement with a unique, Chinese perspective and sensibility. Lin will step down at the end of 2019 after almost five decades of extraordinary creativity, with honours throughout the dance world, including the coveted Samuel H Scripps/American Dance Festival Award for Lifetime Achievement (2013). This special Gala programme features highlights of Cloud Gate classics by dance hero and legend, Lin Hwai-min. Lyrical and meditative, explosive and enthralling, Lin’s choreographic love letters to his homeland redefine the art of dance.