Running parallel to the Hong Kong Arts Festival, the No Limits showcase celebrates disabled artists. Its ultimate goal of course is to make itself redundant. Rob Garratt reports.
Taking place annually on the fringes of the Hong Kong Arts Festival (HKAF) since 2019, the No Limits program is dedicated to performers with disabilities. The program’s 2025 edition, which kicks off today, is set to be its most ambitious offering yet. For instance, internationally acclaimed, and visually impaired, American jazz organ and piano prodigy Matthew Whitaker plays two nights at the Hong Kong City Hall, beginning on March 1. “I’m super honored because it’s really for everyone to get a chance to showcase themselves and what they’re able to do,” the 23-year-old says, thanking the festival for giving a platform to “people like me”.
As far as inspiring figures go, it’s hard to imagine a better ambassador championing the cause of differently abled artists than Whitaker. He was born blind but discovered a gift for the piano at the age of 3, began studying the classical canon at 5, and performed at Stevie Wonder’s induction into the Apollo Theater’s Hall of Fame at 10. “I think at that moment, while everyone was cheering, that’s when I said to myself: ‘Hey, I think this is what I want to do,’ ” Whitaker remembers.
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For his Hong Kong debut, Whitaker has prepared a version of Dave Brubeck’s jazz standard Take Five, in response to an audience request via social media. He is also performing Stop Fighting, an appeal to the public to stop divisive behavior. Composed during the pandemic, the piece continues to resonate. “Every show I do, I always do my song Stop Fighting because … we don’t need all the police brutality. We don’t need all the bullying. We don’t need all the slavery,” Whitaker says.
“I want to just be an inspiration and tell everyone, ‘Hey, you know, whatever you do, no matter what, just be you.’ ”
Whitaker is one of six big-name visiting artists. No Limits co-commissioned Scottish choreographer and dancer Claire Cunningham’s new Mahler-inspired solo show, Songs of the Wayfarer, which will see its Asia premiere at Freespace in WestK (formerly known as the West Kowloon Cultural District) over three nights from March 7. Also featured is a duet between Hong Kong pianist Anson Tang — the first wheelchair user to have trained at the keyboard department of London’s Royal College of Music — and British flautist Ruth Montgomery, who was born deaf.
Reach out and touch
Program director Eddy Zee concedes that in the past, audience members may have seen No Limits as a “second-class” event. He compares the program’s relationship with HKAF as similar to that between the Paralympic Games and the Olympics. However, in more recent years, “in terms of sales and audience feedback, this has changed a lot”.
The shift in outlook is at least partially owed to the festival’s initiatives to create and enhance opportunities for artists with disabilities in Hong Kong. The activities range from lobbying major arts organizations to nurturing grassroots talents. Last year, the No Limits Pilot Creative Programme offered specialist training in inclusive arts to Hong Kong educators, delivered by teachers from the UK’s Candoco Dance Co.
The current edition of No Limits includes five large-scale community events. Visually challenged performers recruited from 11 different NGOs went through nine months of rehearsals to create In Touch We Trust, a site-specific performance that premieres today at Tai Kwun’s Parade Ground.
“They all really love dance, and they’re open-minded enough,” Zee says. “We are using different ways of letting them develop their own character, to find unity and synergy within themselves.”
The 2025 edition also includes a number of education and community programs presented by the Hong Kong Jockey Club, and an international symposium intended to encourage collaboration across the creative networks of neighboring countries in Asia.
“Our purpose is to promote the concept of inclusiveness to the general public, and our tool is the performing arts,” Zee says. “We set up a platform for dialogue, for communication, for the exchange of ideas in a fair way.”
Art by chance
Over the years the festival has evolved from simply showcasing talent to focusing on the stories of artists with disabilities.
“In the past, we were just looking at performers’ techniques — were they as good as able-bodied people,” Zee says. “But nowadays, we really want to know about the artists’ daily lives, about their views of the world and the difficulties they’re facing.”
Hide-and-Seek is No Limits’ first commission to a Chinese mainland artist. The two-man physical theater performance pairs 30-year-old blind masseur Wang Zeyu with established choreographer and dancer He Qiwo, who goes by the professional name ErGao. Like many visually impaired people from northern China, Wang migrated south to find work in Guangzhou — where a chance encounter with ErGao ultimately led to a creative collaboration. A film documenting the story behind Hide-and-Seek is being screened at the Tai Kwun Laundry Steps throughout March.
Wang says that the project helped both him and ErGao to trigger “each others’ creative passion”. He hopes that the piece “resonates with others and sparks a dialogue”. “I am deeply grateful for such an opportunity,” he adds.
Meeting of minds
No Limits 2025 is hosting the first performance of Be Seen — a solo show by Zhao Hongcheng, a Hunan-raised, Shanghai-based content creator, and wheelchair user — outside of the Chinese mainland. “I grew up watching Hong Kong TV dramas, admiring all the women role models, so it’s a dream come true,” says Zhao, who has done much to raise awareness about the place of differently abled people in society. “The No Limits platform is a very international one. I’m very excited about meeting other talented international artists there.”
Be Seen is the brainchild of producer Mia Shen, who after breaking her leg was stuck at home. Scrolling her phone Shen came to know of Zhao and the huge online following the latter had acquired as an influencer. Shen invited Zhao to tell her story on stage, despite the fact that the latter had no experience of the theater.
Shen strongly believes that the “ordinary Chinese” person’s story deserves to be told on an international platform. “I go to a lot of theater festivals around the world, but contemporary China is rarely represented. Hence people have a lot of misunderstandings and false impressions as to what younger people in China are like,” she explains.
When they met for the first time, Shen was still on crutches. “So we clicked instantly,” she says.
“People with disabilities are rarely represented on TV and movies in China. Zhao happens to be this fantastic lady with a story I wanted to tell, and she happens to be someone sitting in a wheelchair.”
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Since its first staging in 2023, Be Seen has been performed more than 30 times in five cities across China. While Zhao concedes that the play’s success indicates society moving toward greater inclusivity, she remains keen to continue lobbying for more accessible facilities and social support for those with disabilities. “China is transforming now, and we need a new perspective toward understanding disability,” she adds.
Shen feels she will have achieved her mission the day when a festival like No Limits is no longer necessary. “They are all super talented and belong in the same pool as the rest of the artists,” she says of the artists featured in No Limits. “I think that’s the ultimate goal — in the future, well, maybe it’s just the same festival.”
If you go
No Limits
Dates: Feb 21 to May 19
Venues: various
