Unlock Dancing Plaza is one of the most forward-thinking and adventurous contemporary dance company in Hong Kong.  Founded in 2002 by Ong Yong Lock and Elsie Chau, the company is financially supported by the Hong Kong Arts Development Council since 2009.  In 2022, Joseph Lee succeeded Ong as the Artistic Director and Ong became Creative Director (Public Participatory) , focusing on outreach and community programmes. Determined to extend possibilities of dance making, Unlock aspire to develop a diverse performing arts ecology.  Emancipate from institutionalized dance aesthetic, the company propose to redefine dance as natural form of self-expression, honoring individuality, and breaking from the production-focused par for the course.  In recent years, Unlock makes new attempt to conduct various experimental projects to re-imagine dance. 

Unlock embodied individuality in dance and promote the concept of Danceless , a new aesthetic notion to forsake dance techniques and empower everyone’s ability to dance.  Engaging the community through workshop and showcase to create dance, effectively promote mutual exchange between artists and the public by shared dance experience.

Elaborating on the idea of Danceless , first #DANCELESS complex  was launched in 2021.  It became a platform for choreographers from different cultural background to share ideas, to perform, and to experiment.

Unlock makes new attempt to initiate “Unlock Body Lab” - a series of research on dance and performances, its “dance-to-be” cross-media, cross-culture residency project, encourage experimentation and emphasize the work-in-progress creative process, focusing on every stages of creation before the performance, whereas the format of concluding presentation is open to numerous possibilities. 

Unlock is a three-time Hong Kong Dance Awards recipient and highly recognised by the dance industry. Its representative works include Jump to Mars, Dance with me, Boy Story. Reborn, Wanderer, serial dance-theatre Walls 44, Chopin VS Ca, and etc. Touring to dance festivals around the world for years, Unlock closely connected with people and place, making dialogues in dance.

Determined to extend possibilities of dance making, Unlock Dancing Plaza aspire to emancipate from institutionalized dance aesthetic and support a diverse performing arts ecology. We create dance to ask question about our body and its meaning in contemporary context. We encourage listening to oneself and connect with others and our environment. From individual to community, from body sensation to critical thinking, we aspire that everyone can think, communicate and create through dance.