I'm not sure what recipe you're using - but perhaps if you separated the eggs and added the yolks with the 'regular' ingredients. Beat the whites and folded them in at the end .... just before putting in pan?

There are a lot of cheesecake recipes here on THE KITCHEN LINK - and I'm sure some must be lighter than others ... maybe if you do a search and then re-read some of them, you will get some other tips.

I had a friend who used to bake her cheesecakes (she did not use a crust) in a water bath as she felt that made them have a better texture. however, I never tasted her cheesecake so am not sure what she meant. I also would imagine she must have wrapped the springform pan in heavy duty foil so the water would not get inside! Ouch.