Thank you for watching Susie Au x Xie Shu’s Off the Boundary! Your feedback matters to us, and we invite you to complete our online survey after the performance.
Off the Boundary is an installation project that resists easy categorisation. Bringing together moving image, sound, fragments of everyday life, contemporary dance, shifting light, and the lingering traces of theatre, the work unfolds less as a narrative performance than as an inquiry into space itself: Where does the body end? Where does space begin? How does memory gradually become part of architecture?
The project reconsiders the established categories of art history—painting, cinema, performance, installation, and theatre. Each medium appears to possess its own entrance, rules, and boundaries. Yet what happens when those boundaries are removed? When a dancer’s breath becomes part of the soundscape, when projected images fall upon a moving body, or when an ordinary moment from a stranger’s life becomes a script?
Rather than leading towards a new genre, the work moves towards a place where genres dissolve altogether. The question is no longer: “Is this theatre? Cinema? Contemporary art?” Instead, it asks: Does it hold a moment? Does it allow an encounter—with a sound, a shadow, or another viewer—somewhere between accident and inevitability?
You may call it an unnamed creation. You may call it boundaryless, or an empty space. It is perhaps best understood as a living archive of fleeting encounters and ongoing movement. The project resists definition because experience itself should not be labelled. We ask questions about life because we are still living—and therefore continue to ask.
Working across the unlabeled spaces between MV, cinema, theater, and installation — dissolving borders, not switching genres. “MV Guru” with over 100 videos for Faye Wong, Jacky Cheung and pop singers during the decade.Cinema.
Ming Ming (2007), action romance pop? She Fell to Earth (2024), IFFR Tiger Competition — both replacing action with dance and music. Not because music sells, but because dialogue is too contrived; action assumes intent while dance assumes presence.
Xie Shu has worked across film and television project planning, screenwriting, theatre directing, theatre production, arts centre management, and new media party creation. The “Body in Action” Theatre and Dance Studio, which she initiated, is an active interdisciplinary collective engaged in cross-media artistic practices.
Xie possesses extensive experience in cross-media platform management and production. Her stage works include Behind 3.0, Ten, and Abundance.
Head of Dance Movement Therapy, Key Laboratory of Artificial Intelligence Music Therapy, Shanghai Conservatory of Music; choreographer, dancer, and performer. MFA in Art from California Institute of the Arts; Bachelor’s degree from the Central Conservatory of Music.
Since 2017, she has been engaged in interdisciplinary research and practice between dance and other fields, including dance and music, Dalcroze Eurhythmics, dance and theatre, among others.
Zhang Yan graduated from the Dance Academy of Sichuan Conservatory of Music in 2016, majoring in Chinese Dance Performance and Education. She joined the Jiangsu Performing Arts Group Opera and Dance Theatre in 2016, became a member of Guangdong Modern Dance Company in 2017, and joined Xie Xin Dance Theatre in 2023.
“Have you ever seen a ghost?” He only saw
shadows flitting outside the theatre.
“Do you believe in gods?” He refuses to believe that the stage is merely an illusion of the mystical. — Danny Yung, Co-Artistic Director of Zuni Icosahedron
If the theatre was once a sanctuary where humans, ghosts, and gods meet, what remains of it today?
For years, Danny Yung, Co-Artistic Director of Zuni Icosahedron, has persistently questioned: Where does theatre come from?
And what form could an arts festival take in the future?
In ancient times, the “stage” was originally a sacred ground for communication between humans, ghosts, and spirits. Rituals, as a form of collective action, carried humanity’s understanding of the universe and served as a response to the unknown and the perplexing.
To celebrate the 30th anniversary of the the Hong Kong Institute of Contemporary Culture (HKICC) and the 20th anniversary of the HKICC Lee Shau Kee School of Creativity, Zuni Icosahedron and the Hong Kong Contemporary Cultural Centre jointly present the newly curated Meeting of Gods Festival & Danny Yung Young Artists Academy 2026.
Guided by the idea of “Meeting of Gods”, the Festival revisits and reflects upon the essence of theatre as both a public space and a spiritual arena, bringing together contemporary and traditional performing artists from across Asia.
We invite the audience to be present at the theatre together. Across seven performances, post-show talks, and dialogues, let us collectively perceive the theatre as a sacred place of present-moment gathering.
During the festival, from 5 to 9 July 2026, five “One Table Two Chairs” forums will be held at the Studio Theatre of the HKICC Lee Shau Kee School of Creativity. Hosted by Singaporean intercultural theatre director Liu Xiaoyi and curated by architecture and culture scholar Melody Yiu, the forums bring together artists and participants from diverse fields to explore intercultural issues relating to arts festivals, arts education, cultural institutions, and arts practice.
01 | Arts Festivals -How do experiments in the forms and content of cultural exchange inspire future arts festivals?
02 | Creative Education – How can reforms and innovations in educational institutions cultivate independent and forward-looking values?
03 | Cultural Insitutions – How do cultural institutions recognize and challenge conservative tendencies within their own organizational culture?
04 | Arts in Practice – How do arts practitioners respond to external forces of politics, economics, society, and technology?
05 | Prospective Seminar – Academy and Arts Festival / Reviews and Challenges
Danny Yung Young Artists Academy 2026 is the second edition this year developed from the 3-year collaboration between Nanyang Academy for Fine Arts, University of the Arts Singapore. 19 final year students of the BA (Hons) Contemporary Chinese Theatres program come to spend 2 weeks in this program curated by Danny Yung for training and exchanges.
Artistic Director, Chief Curator, Director: Danny Yung
International Exchange Director / Producer: Wong Yue Wai
Co-curator, Director, Course Instructor: Liu Xiaoyi
Music Director, Director, Course Instructor: Steve Hui (aka NERVE)
Directors: Susie Au, Xie Shu
Video: Susie Au
Performers: Alve Fu (Shanghai) , Zhang Yan (Shanghai)
Artistic Director, Curator, Director: Danny Yung
Co-curator, Director, Course Instructor: Liu Xiaoyi
Cross-cultural Artists, Course Instructors:
Makoto Matsushima, Rady Nget, Park Hobin, Xiao Xiangping, Ren Jiale, Yang Junfeng, Steve Hui (Nerve)
Coordinators: Cindy Cheung, Chloe Li, Jane Cheuk, Martin Choy
Students (Nanyang Academy of Fine Arts | University of the Arts Singapore):
Chang Xiya, Chen Jing, Chua Yin Ling, He Xinyan, Huang Jinghan, Karen Lie Kai Ting, Li Kaiyang, Li Yiran, Lin Jing, Liu Yanqi, Ni Ke, Pan Huishan, Shen Yang, Wang Bo, Wang Juner, Wang Sining, Zhou Chenyi, Zhou Qianhui, Ma Xiaoyu
Young Artists (Hong Kong)
Yeung Sin Tung, Li Sixian, Chuk Ka Lok, Hu Jiashu, Mok Pui Yan, Hui Ka Ling, Wong Fai Ying, Vivian Lin, Curtis Si Tou, Grace Tam, Tang Pui Shan, Arwen Cheung, Zhao Zihui, Chloe (Observer)
Zuni Resident Stage Manager: Chan On Ki
Production Manager and Stage Manager: Leo Siu
Deputy Stage Manager: Carvid Ngai
Lighting Design and Operator: Cheng Lai Chiu
Sound Design and Operator: Fong King Lok
Video Operator: Ziv Chun, Yu Pui Ho
Stage Crew: Keung King Hang, Fung Kwan Tai
Light Crew: Lo Wing Yi, Mok Chi Yeung,
Sound Crew: Zeng Jiaxin
Advisor: Poon Tat Pui
Filming and Editing: Leung Minami Hoi Lam, Hung Ka Hei, Yip Chun Ting, Leung Tsz Ki, So Wing Shun, Yuen Ka Nok
Assistant Artistic Director: Cedric Chan
General Manager (Administration and Finance): Jacky Chan
General Manager (Programme): Doris Kan
Senior Manager (Programme): Bowie Chow
Senior Manager (Production and Technical): Gavin Chow
Administration Manager: Colin Cheng
Stage Manager: Chan On Ki
Marketing and Outreach Manager: Niki Luk
PR & Publicity: Luka Wong
Ticketing & Digital Marketing: HO Yin Hei
Programme Assistant: Yumi Hui
Graphic Design & Video (Promotion): Ricky Cheng
Graphic Design (Display Board): Coco Cheung
Video (Promotion): Vanilla Guo
Photographer (Documentation): Tree Lo
Yun Yuan
Edward Lam Dance Theatre