Following Cloud Gate Dance Theatre of Taiwan’s recent celebrated return to the Brooklyn Academy of Music’s (BAM) Next Wave Festival , Cloud Gate 2 will make its US debut at The Joyce Theater, February 8-12, 2012. New Yorkers have been mesmerized by Cloud Gate Dance Theatre five times since 1995 at BAM, and next year will mark the premiere performances of Cloud Gate 2 in the United States. Established in 1999 by Cloud Gate founder Lin Hwai-min, Cloud Gate 2 combines Asian allusion and exhilarating theatricality with a contemporary dance vocabulary.

Unlike most “junior” companies, Cloud Gate 2 does not prepare dancers for Cloud Gate, nor does it perform Lin Hwai-min’s choreography. Its purpose is to showcase unconventional, esteemed choreographers and dancers and highlight the broad scope and diversity of Taiwanese dance. Cloud Gate 2’s annual Spring Riot, which presents award-winning choreographers’ original and ground-breaking works, has become one of Taiwan’s most anticipated art events.
“We have an extraordinary opportunity to showcase exceptionally talented artists from Taiwan and we are thrilled to be performing in New York City during the company’s first US tour,” said Lin Hwai-min. “Cloud Gate 2 is a very different company from Cloud Gate Dance Theater which is why this occasion to perform in New York is especially important. They are gorgeous dancers who are required to learn, adapt and display remarkable technique through the artistry of a group of equally exceptional and distinct choreographers.”

The choreography to be performed at The Joyce Theater includes Passage by Bulareyaung Pagarlava, guest choreographer for the Martha Graham Dance Company (2011, 2009) and American Dance Festival (2011). The New York Times has said of his theatrical choreography, “Eager to see more works by this evidently original choreographer.”

Two dances by Huang Yi, Wicked Fish and Ta-Ta for Now, will be performed. In 2011, Huang was noted in Dance Magazine’s “25 to Watch” issue and in 2010 was the winner of the International Choreography Competition in Denmark. Another award-winning artist, Cheng Tsung-lung, will be featured on the Joyce program with The Wall. Cheng recently won both the 2011 Roma and 16th MASDANZA International Dance Competitions and he’s known for his work being architectural in scope and precision. Renowned choreographer Wu Kuo-chu, former artistic director of Tanztheater at Staatstheater Kassel, whose work was described as “Body language close to heaven,” in German press, will be represented with Tantalus on the Joyce program.

Cloud Gate 2’s portfolio of work is celebrated around the world as some of the most pioneering and creative contemporary dance to come out of Asia in decades. In addition to its regular seasons, the company also reaches out to tens of thousands of people by holding free outdoor performances, and offers residency programs on campuses and in outlying communities who otherwise would not have access to world-class dance.

At the forefront of contemporary dance, Cloud Gate 2 dares to take beautiful risks that produce equally stunning results. New Yorkers will have the opportunity to experience this exquisite, valiant artistry in February 2012 at The Joyce Theater.
Cloud Gate 2 is on the web at www.cloudgate.org.tw/eng ‘)}