By Steve Sucato

The Pittsburgh Dance Council’s 54th anniversary season will finally get underway on Saturday, November 16, at the Byham Theater with the Pittsburgh debut of Cloud Gate Dance Theatre of Taiwan. The season was to open last month with the return of South African dance troupe Dado Masilo and their work Hamlet. Unfortunately, due to travel complications, the company had to cancel its fall U.S. tour.

A rare get, Cloud Gate will be the first of two marquee dance tours on the Dance Council’s 2024-2025 season. The other is Twyla Tharp Dance’s ubiquitous Diamond Jubilee – 60th Anniversary tour coming to Pittsburgh in April 2025.

Founded in 1973 by choreographer LIN Hwai-min, Cloud Gate gets its name from the oldest known dance in China. The globe-trotting company dubbed “Asia’s leading contemporary dance theater” by British newspaper The Times, Cloud Gate celebrates the Taiwanese people and culture through its leading-edge contemporary dance productions.

For the steel city stop on its current U.S. and Canada tour, the company will present the hourlong 13 Tongues without intermission. The 2016 work for 13 dancers, choreographed by company artistic director CHENG Tsung-lung, is set to music by Taiwanese musician LIM Giong. 

Cheng says he conceived 13 Tongues as a way of capturing childhood memories of when he was eight and helped his father sell slippers on the streets of Bangka, a region in Taiwan’s Wanhua District. 

In a 2020 Financial Times article, Cheng recalled: “My most prominent memory was [that of] wetness, being very close to the ground, and everything being wet…[Bangka] was a prosperous district, but also very mixed…there were prostitutes and gangsters in the streets, a lot of shops, temples, and full of festivals and folk rituals.”

CHENG also says the work was further inspired by his mother’s accounts of the legendary 1960s street artist, impressionist, and storyteller known as “Thirteen Tongues. It was said that “Thirteen Tongues” could conjure up all the Bangka characters — high and low born, sacred and profane, men and women — in the most vivid, dramatic, and fluently imaginative narratives. 

For the atmosphere of the work, Cheng said in the Financial Times article, “I was trying to put together all the smells, sounds, and colors that I could remember.”

According to Cheng, the color scheme for 13 Tongues is a sort of running kaleidoscope of memories that morphs from darker tones representing vague and distant ones to bright, full-color tones representing vivid ones.

Following Cloud Gates’ 13 Tongues, here’s what’s on tap for the remainder of the Dance Council’s 2024-2025 season:

Malpaso Dance Company
Wednesday, January 15, 2025
Byham Theater

In the twelve years since its establishment, Malpaso Dance Company has become one of the most sought-after Cuban dance companies with a growing international profile. Emphasizing a collaborative creative process, Malpaso is committed to working with top international choreographers while also nurturing new voices in Cuban choreography. An Associate Company of Joyce Theater Productions, Malpaso — together with The Joyce— has commissioned original works from a number of prominent international choreographers, including Aszure Barton, Sonya Tayeh, and Ronald K. Brown, among others. The company returns to Pittsburgh with an invigorating mixed repertory program.

BODYTRAFFIC
Saturday, February 22, 2025
Byham Theater

Led by Artistic Director Tina Finkelman Berkett and based out of Los Angeles, California, BODYTRAFFIC has conquered the contemporary dance world with its stunning performers, technical mastery, and commitment to the most challenging repertoire. Bursting with cutting-edge “vivid theatricality,” BODYTRAFFIC takes the Byham stage with a mixed repertory program of compelling works that embody the company’s energy, sophistication, and sheer joy in dancing. “They’re the kind of people you could watch dance anything all night.” – The San Francisco Chronicle.

Ballet Folklórico de México (SEASON SPECIAL)
Wednesday, March 5, 2025
Byham Theater

For over 70 years, Ballet Folklórico de México has been moving audiences all over the world. Founder Amalia Hernández gained recognition as a cultural representative of Mexico and rescued its traditional dances. She projected the country’s beauty to the world through movement from pre-Columbian cultures onward. Hernández’s artistic legacy remains strong thanks to over 100 original choreographies with pristine technical skill, elaborate costumes, and first-rate artists. Presented by Pittsburgh Cultural Trust, part of the 2024-2025 Dentons Cohen & Grigsby Trust Presents series.

Twyla Tharp Dance
Saturday, April 19, 2025
Byham Theater

A name even those who know nothing about dance know, Twyla Tharp celebrates her 60th anniversary with the coast-to-coast Diamond Jubilee tour featuring her Olivier-nominated “Diabelli Variations,” set to Beethoven’s masterpiece of the same name and a new dance to a reimagining of Philip Glass’s iconic “Aguas da Amazonia,” arranged by GRAMMY Award-winning group Third Coast Percussion. Showcasing Tharp’s uncanny and witty use of music to create work of startling originality and beauty, the two dances once again ensure Tharp’s place as one of the great artists of our time.

Malandain Ballet Biarritz
Wednesday, May 7, 2025
Byham Theater

Created in 1998, the Centre Chorégraphique National/Malandain Ballet Biarritz has become one of the most important companies in the French choreographic landscape. Composed of 22 permanent dancers and led by Thierry Malandain, the company is known for its power, virtuosity, humanity, and sensuality. Through Malandain’s over 85 creations, he uses his movement vocabulary to create harmony between modern and classical techniques. In Malandain’s latest work, Les Saisons (Four Seasons), he combines Vivaldi’s “Four Seasons” and “The Four Seasons,” composed by Giovanni Antonio Guido, in a bold and innovative program. Contains partial nudity.

MORE PITTSBURGH CULTURAL TRUST DANCE SHOWS

Lightwire Theater’s A Very Electric Christmas
Friday, November 29, 2024
Byham Theater
Dentons Cohen & Grigsby TRUST PRESENTS Series

The Hip Hop Nutcracker
Tuesday, December 17, 2024
Benedum Center
Dentons Cohen & Grigsby TRUST PRESENTS Series

Dancing with the Stars: Live!
Tuesday, February 4, 2025
Benedum Center
Live Nation & NS2

TICKETS/INFORMATION

Single tickets (as low as $20) for the Pittsburgh Dance Council 2024-2025 Season (54th presenting season) are available by visiting TrustArts.org/DANCE, or calling Guest Services at 412-456-6666.  For more tickets/information about other Pittsburgh Cultural Trust dance presentations, visit TrustArts.org. For groups of 10 or more tickets, please call 412-471-6930. Student Discounts: Students are welcome to spend a day off campus and explore the arts in the Cultural District!  Undergraduate and graduate students are eligible for ticket discounts of up to 50% off select Pittsburgh Cultural Trust performances. The Pittsburgh Cultural Trust is the premiere performing and visual arts organization in Pittsburgh’s Cultural District. For more information, visit the Pittsburgh Cultural Trust’s Student University Tickets webpage at ww.TrustArts.org.