Chenglong Tang is a Chinese choreographer, dance theatre and dance film director, and an award-winning artist. He trained at the Beijing Dance Academy and began his career as a professional dancer. He later developed an independent artistic practice, expanding his work into directing and exploring the possibilities that emerge between the stage and the screen.
Gatha tells the story of two Tibetan brothers who set out on a pilgrimage to the sacred mountain Kangrinboqe, also known as Mount Kailash. Along the way, the elder brother dies, but despite his loss and the many trials he encounters, the younger brother decides to continue the journey and fulfil his brother’s final wish. Alone, grieving yet fulfilled, he eventually reaches the sacred land. His journey does not end there—a new cycle of life begins.
The film speaks through dance and the highly physical practice of prostration, in which the pilgrim repeatedly moves from standing to lying on the ground and rises again. The repeated movement becomes an image of the long journey, perseverance, loss and continuation. Gatha brings together dance, landscape and a story of brotherhood, using the simple cycle of falling and rising to evoke a journey that continues even after loss.