Artistc Director

CHENG TSUNG-LUNG

ARTISTIC DIRECTOR

From street hawker selling slippers to internationally recognized choreographer, CHENG Tsung-lung succeeded LIN Hwai-min as Artistic Director of Cloud Gate Dance Theatre of Taiwan starting in 2020.

CHENG took his first dance class at the age of 8. Upon graduation from the Dance Department at Taipei National University of the Arts, he joined Cloud Gate in 2002 and became the Artistic Director of Cloud Gate 2 in 2014. 

CHENG has been awarded prestigious prizes for his choreography internationally as well as at home, such as the No Ballet International Choreography Competition (Germany), the Premio Roma Danza International Choreography Competition (Italy), the MASDANZA Choreography Competition (Spain) and the Taishin Arts Award (Taiwan). He has also worked with companies worldwide, including Sydney Dance Company, the Transitions Dance Company at the Laban Centre, London, Expressions Dance Company, Brisbane, and the Hong Kong Academy for Performing Arts.

CHENG’s choreography bridges Taiwan’s ancient rituals and modern life, blending local roots with global influences and The Stage praised his “eye for a cinematic moment.” His 13 Tongues (2016) evokes the vibrant streets of his childhood through folk dance and Taoist chant; Lunar Halo (2019), set to music by Sigur Rós, was hailed by The Telegraph as “a luminously and bleakly beautiful take on the internet-infested 21st century.” Sounding Light (2020) reflects the solitude of the pandemic era; Send in a Cloud (2022) paints a poetic journey of life in shifting colors; WAVES (2023), co-created with Japan’s digital artist Daito Manabe, explores the complex entanglement between technology and humanity, and his most recent work, All Ears (2025) invites audiences to discover movement through deep listening.

CHENG has been a fixture of Routledge’s respected annual survey of dance practitioners, Fifty Contemporary Choreographers (2020), alongside the likes of William Forsythe, Akram Khan, Hofesh Shechter, and leaders in the form.