Spring Riot 2025
Spring Riot 2025
Cloud Gate’s choreographic platform, "Spring Riot", returns to Cloud Gate Theater on June 21–22, 2025. "Spring Riot", since founding in 2001, has brought together diverse choreographic voices, fostering bold new creations on the Cloud Gate stage. This year, five choreographers—Baru Madiljin, Chen Wu-kang, Hiroaki Umeda, duo Lee Chen-wei × Vakulya Zoltan and Yang Nai-hsuan—collaborate with Cloud Gate dancers to develop works that showcase their perspectives on movement. Performed on a bare stage, the works strip away ornamentation to reveal the raw power and depth of movement.
The "Work-in-Progress" series continues, offering an intimate look at emerging voices. Lin Pin-shuo further develops his exploration of dynamic balance, while Lai Wei-chun unveils the first stage of her upcoming new work, inviting audiences into her creative process.
Baru Madiljin, a Paiwan artist from the Timur community in Sandimen Township, Pingtung, is the current dance director and principal creator of Tjimur Dance Theatre. His works delve into ethnic consciousness and contemporary identity, with a strong focus on Paiwan culture and historical memory. Frequently invited to international stages, he was named "Person of the Year" by Performing Arts Review in 2023, solidifying his role as a leading figure among contemporary Taiwanese choreographers.
LEE\VAKULYA, a Brussels-based duo of Lee Chen-wei (Taiwan) and Vakulya Zoltan (Hungary), has created stage works and museum format exhibitions and performances since 2016. Their work explores the relationship between individuals and society, pushing the limits of boundaries, partnership, and empathy. They have received the Taishin Performing Arts Award (2023), TECO Award (2020), nominated from the Total Theatre Award (2017, UK) and Best Choreographer for Mephisto (2022, Serbian National Theater)
Hiroaki Umeda has presented his choreography in over 150 cities across 40 countries since 2002, including Chaillot National Theater in Paris. He has created works for leading companies such as GötenborgsOperans Danskompani and L.A Dance Project. His practice integrates dance, sound, video, and lighting design. He recently developed sensory-focused installations at festivals and venues such as 21_21 DESIGN SIGHT. From 2022 to 2024, he served as resident choreographer at Yokohama Red Brick Warehouse No.1.
Chen Wu-kang, born in Taiwan, began a 12-year collaboration with New York choreographer Eliot Feld in 2001, profoundly shaping his artistic journey. In 2004, he co-founded HORSE and has served as its artistic director ever since. Over the past decade, he has collaborated with artists from various disciplines and undertaken international cultural exchange and research projects. His accolades include the Taishin Performing Arts Award and the Kurt Jooss Prize.
Yang Nai-hsuan co-founded Les Petites Choses Production in 2014 and has since served as its Artistic Director. Her creations are rooted in professional dance training, blending elements of popular dance to present diverse and innovative works. She focuses on the individuality and kinetic potential of performers, using the body as a shared language to explore the interplay between intimacy and openness, limitation and freedom, showcasing a rich and captivating artistic vision.
Lin Pin-shuo, a native of Kaohsiung, is an independent dance and performing artist. Using the body as the primary framework for expression and inquiry, he explores creation, performance, and sharing as pathways to connect with the broader community.
Recently, he has presented works at platforms such as Chiayi New Style Choreography , "Work in Progress" studio sessions of Cloud Gate’s "Spring Riot" , and National Taichung Theater's LABX Interdisciplinary Arts Laboratory.
Previously, he was a professional dancer with Cloud Gate Dance Theater of Taiwan, Isabelle Beernaert Dance Company, and Kor’sia Dance Company.
Lai Wei-chun is an independent artist dedicated to creation, performance, and teaching. From 2020 to 2023, she was a dancer with Cloud Gate Dance Theater of Taiwan. Her choreographic works include In-Between, co-created and presented at Koenji Theatre; The Place That Can't Escape, a duet created for the 2021 "U3 Project"; and If I Could, I Couldn’t, co-created with Chien-Yao Liao and invited to the Stray Birds Platform in 2024.