A production by Taiwan’s Cloud Gate Dance Theatre was named show of the year and Tsai Po-cheng one of the world’s 32 most promising dancers Aug. 21 by prestigious German dance magazine Tanz.
 
A study on Taiwan’s history, literature and natural landscapes, Cloud Gate’s “Formosa” was one of two productions selected from a survey of 41 prominent international critics and published in the magazine’s 2018 yearbook.
 
Tanz also honored 31-year-old independent choreographer Tsai for blending traditional Chinese elements such as martial arts with contemporary flavors in his work and highlighted his award-winning “Floating Flowers” as an example of this style. It also praised two of his 2017 shows as examples of his versatility and ingenuity: “Inception,” about the theoretical physicist Albert Einstein and “Niflheim,” inspired by Norse mythology.
 
German magazine honors Taiwan dance company, choreographer

Cloud Gate was formed in 1973 as the first professional modern dance troupe in Taiwan and has become one of the country’s major cultural exports.
 
Tsai started his choreography career after graduating from Taipei National University of the Arts and launched his own dance company B.Dance in 2014. He has won a number of honors including the Audience Award and the Gauthier Dance/Theaterhaus Stuttgart Production Award at the International Competition for Choreographers Hannover in 2014 and the Berner Tanzpreis choreography award at the Tanzplattform Bern festival in 2017, both in Germany. (CPY-E)