Hong Kong Arts Festival and The Hong Kong Jockey Club Charities Trust co-presenting "No Limits 2024"
SHOWCASING HUMAN PERSPECTIVES
As a form of human expression, art can tackle all topics – offering different perspectives on everyday life, interpersonal relationships and encounters, social conditions and expectations. But whatever the content, all art is shaped by the historical and social contexts in which it is conceived and created.
The sixth edition of “No Limits” showcases human perspectives through works that address topical issues and problems faced by people in their everyday lives, and features performances and screenings conceived and performed by artists with disabilities from Hong Kong and around the world.
Reminiscing: A Piano Recital by Lee Shing
Acclaimed Hong Kong classical pianist Lee Shing presents an exhilarating programme of three significant works that have inspired and shaped his life as a performer. The recital opens with Beethoven’s Sonata No. 8 in C minor “Pathetique”, a lamentation written when Beethoven was fighting against losing his hearing, and a piece that Lee mastered through memorisation as deteriorating vision began to hinder his ability to read music. The sonata is followed by Schumann’s “Scenes from Childhood” (Kinderszenen), a piece evoking the dreams and emotions of youth. To close the recital, Lee presents Beethoven’s Sonata No. 30 in E major, a profound piece composed after Beethoven had become deaf, and a reminder of the power of art to provide solace and inspire determination.
Vertigo Power of Balance: Shape on Us
Performed by a leading contemporary dance company and choreographed by renowned choreographer Sharon Fridman, Shape on Us is a striking work that re-examines social conventions and truisms surrounding the dancing body.
As eight dancers with multiple physical abilities break away from the aids that serve some of them in everyday life, a collective organism takes shape in the encounter between unique bodies. Exploring their individual fragilities and needs, the dancers confront the push and pull of rejection and concern, meeting in moments of tension, support, loneliness and love. Gradually, as the piece unfolds, disparate expressions merge to create an astoundingly tender collective language of touch and cooperation.
Shape on Us challenges taboos around looking at the different body. Powerfully embracing the delicate physical systems that transform involuntary movements into deliberate gestures, it questions our perception of what is considered natural and abnormal.
First presented in 2020, Shape on Us is the product of Vertigo Dance Company’s ongoing engagement with the disability community.
Scored in Silence by Chisato Minamimura
Scored in Silence is an exquisite, digital solo sign language performance by London-based Deaf Japanese artist and choreographer Chisato Minamimura. Through a breathtaking combination of signing, mime, projected 3D animation, video footage, sounds and vibration, the performance unpacks the hidden, personal perspectives of the small number of Deaf people who survived the horrors of the atomic bomb atrocity in Japan in 1945.
Presenting excerpts of original recorded interviews of elderly Deaf people with lived experiences of Hiroshima, Scored in Silence is an imaginative piece of documentary theatre that brings to life the haunting untold narratives of this doubly stigmatised group of hibakusha – those affected by the bomb. Touching upon the atrocity of the event and its aftermath, the piece reveals the devastating layers of discrimination experienced by these isolated members of Japanese society.
Minamimura’s beautifully expressive interaction with the video footages and Holo-gauze screen animations create a powerful visualisation of sound and silent horror. Accessible and meaningful for Deaf, hearing-impaired and general audiences, Scored in Silence gives voice to those who are disenfranchised, and offers audiences insight into how Deaf people perceive the world around them.
Scored in Silence is performed in Hong Kong Sign Language with English and Chinese Surtitles, Optional Woojer vibration straps offer a physical experience of the soundtrack.
Click here and register Woojer vibration straps ( For audience who have purchased ticket )
Teatro La Plaza from Lima, Peru presents a bold reimagining of Shakespeare’s classic work, told by and for those who struggle to be accepted.
Sharing their desires and frustrations, a group of young people with Down syndrome take the stage with a freely adapted version of Hamlet. Constructed around Shakespeare’s original text and personal anecdotes from the actors’ lives, the production explores the play’s central, existential question: “To be or not to be?” As the characters examine the impact on individuals whose lives have historically been considered a burden or a social waste, the audience is forced to consider the value and meaning of existence in a contemporary world where human worth is measured against unattainable standards of efficiency, production and beauty.
Blending personal monologues, classical drama, pop music, dance and wry humour, Teatro La Plaza’s Hamlet offers an eye-opening and provocative look at questions of inclusion and discrimination – making us question our own perceptions and values, but ultimately presenting a joyous celebration of life and theatre in all forms.
Gentle Unicorn by Chiara Bersani
Clothed in the skin of a mythical creature, Chiara Bersani, 98 cm tall, presents herself to us as the unicorn – slowly and provocatively giving life to its breath, its eyes, its body and essence, and inviting us to reflect on our perceptions of what we see. Quiet and thought-provoking, Gentle Unicorn is a deceptively simple work of physical theatre that bewitches the audience and slows time, revealing the impossibly magical creature as wholly and terribly human.
Award-winning Italian artist Chiara Bersani creates work that examines the politics and meaning of the body in society. With Gentle Unicorn she explores the interpretations given to bodies that meet societal expectations in different ways. Alone on stage, Bersani takes control of the way we view her, gently challenging us to lock eyes with her and look. As she unflinchingly returns our gaze, subtly subverting hints of voyeurism, we are also forced to look at ourselves.
As an actor and performer, Bersani is trained in theatrical research, contemporary dance and performance, and has worked with renowned contemporary performance artists such as Rodrigo Garcia, Jérôme Bel and Alessandro Sciarroni. Gentle Unicorn was selected for Aerowaves Twenty 2019, and presented at the Venice Biennale, Reykjavík Dance Festival and London’s international dance festival Dance Umbrella to wide acclaim. In 2019, Bersani was recognised at Italy’s most prestigious performing arts awards with an UBU Best Newcomer Award for Performers under 35, as well as the Total Theatre Award for Dance at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe.
A Story in Strings: A Violin Recital by Ding Yijie
Award-winning violinist Ding Yijie returns to No Limits with a classical recital celebrating her musical passion and mastery. In 2019, Ding opened the No Limits programme as an accomplished emerging performer, receiving critical acclaim for her performance of Paganini’s Caprice No. 24. In this second recital, Ding showcases her musical development with an ambitious repertoire of works that have played an influential role in her career.
The programme includes virtuoso presentations of Beethoven’s Violin Sonata No.7, Henryk Wieniawski’s challenging piece Faust Fantasy, and a selection of works from Mendelssohn, Dvořák and Tchaikovsky – all of which hold special childhood memories.
Born in the early 2000s, Ding is the first and only blind student to major in the violin at The Hong Kong Academy for Performing Arts. She has performed internationally in Japan, Austria and Germany, and been recognised with a number of awards. In 2022, she won the VSA International Young Soloist Competition and was named Best Performance at the 19th Gold Concert organised by the Japan Barrier-free Association, and in 2021, she was awarded the special jury prize at the HKGNA International Music Competition, as well as second prize in the young artist section.
We are delighted to welcome Ding back to the No Limits stage, and to showcase the exceptional talents of a bright and inspiring young performer.