Cloud Gate Dance Theatre of Taiwan performs Sounding Light at the Esplanade Theatre on Friday 16 and Saturday 17 October at 8pm, headlining the Connect Asia Now weekend of da:ns focus 2026. Esplanade has tickets from S$42.50.
The work runs 1hr 5min with no intermission. It is choreographed by artistic director Cheng Tsung-lung for the company Lin Hwai-min founded, the first professional contemporary dance company in the Chinese-speaking world. Cloud Gate is one of three companies anchoring the 2026/27 da:ns focus season, alongside Anne Teresa De Keersmaeker’s Rosas and The Royal Ballet, which played its Royal Ballet Gala at Esplanade in June.
Dancers who make the music
Cheng made Sounding Light during the pandemic, starting from the sounds of a forest: insects, birds, wind through the trees. The piece follows a single day. Sunlight moves, clouds gather and shadows of leaves drift across the stage.
There is no recorded score. The dancers produce the sound live with breath, voice, finger snaps and clapping, working with composers Lim Giong and Chang Shiuan, so gestures that echo birdsong also make it. The work premiered internationally in 2024 at Kunstfest Weimar and at HELLERAU, the European Center for the Arts in Dresden, and is still touring.
Cheng holds a post-show dialogue after both performances, with Chinese-English interpretation.
Tickets and prices
Standard tickets are S$100 (Cat 1), S$80 (Cat 2) and S$50 (Cat 3). A limited number of concession tickets for students, NSFs and seniors cost S$68 (Cat 2) and S$42.50 (Cat 3), and tickets for persons with disabilities are S$42.50 in any category. Admission is for ages six and above.
Esplanade&Me members save on Cat 1 and Cat 2 standard tickets: 15 per cent for Black members, and 10 per cent for White and Discover members, with Discover needing a minimum of two tickets. Secondary schools, junior colleges, the centralised institute and ITEs can use the Tote Board Arts Grant to cover up to 50 per cent of the cost.
The rest of the Connect Asia Now weekend
Cloud Gate’s associate artistic director Lee Ching-chun leads Everybody Dance Now: Tai Chi Dao Yin, a free 40-minute session at the Esplanade Concourse at 7pm on 16 and 17 October. Tai Chi Dao Yin is part of the company’s physical training, and the session needs no dance or tai chi experience.
- BATU: Ayu Permata Sari (Indonesia) and Hasyimah Harith (Singapore) build this Esplanade commission around the grinding stone of the kitchen. 16 to 18 October, 8pm, Esplanade Theatre Studio, from S$27.20. Rated R18.
- Still Lives: Singapore: Daniel Kok and Luke George suspend members of Vedic metal band RUDRA and their instruments in rope structures. Saturday 17 October, 7.30pm, Singtel Waterfront Theatre, 2hr, from S$32.30.
- Masterclasses: the intermediate class (14 October, 7.30pm) and the beginner class (17 October, 11.30am) at S$40 are both sold out.
- da:ns LAB 2026: studio presentations by four Asia-Pacific artists at the Esplanade Annexe Studio on 15 and 16 October, 4pm and 5pm, within the VECTOR#7 Exhibition of Performance.
- Talks: Indonesian artist Melati Suryodarmo on Rethinking Representation, Saturday 17 October, 3.30pm, and Tang Fu Kuen and aRco Renz in conversation, Sunday 18 October, 1pm. Both are free with registration at the Esplanade Black Room.
Esplanade MRT on the Circle Line is the nearest station to the Esplanade Theatre at 1 Esplanade Drive.
