Meanwhile he secretly dates and falls in love with the dancer Elizabeth Mackey. Despite the harsh reality of life, his childhood was full of love. Even better, it exposes the evils of Communism, international socialism and the good of republican democracy and capitalism. This created a standoff between the Chinese and the American governments. They go on to have two more children, perfectly healthy, but decide to move to Mary's home country, Australia. Two years later, he managed to defect and went on to perform as a principal dancer for the Houston Ballet and as a principal artist with the Australian Ballet. Li and his Chinese partner, Guo, being coached by teacher Zhang. 2009. From bitter poverty to the stardom of the West - this is the extraordinary true story of one boy’s great courage and determination. At first they passed Li without taking any notice, but just as they were walking out of his classroom, the class teacher hesitated, and suddenly tapped the last gentleman from Beijing on the shoulder and pointed. A drama based on the autobiography by Li Cunxin. Li became a successful investment adviser and senior manager at one of the biggest stockbroking firms in Australia. They arrive to watch him in the Nutcracker, and sob as they reunite, and the audience gives a standing ovation. Li Cunxin (pronounced “Lee Schwin Sing”) is a remarkable man borne of a remarkable story. Li at the White House, with the late First Lady, Barbara Bush. But Cunxin doesn't mind; he has a calling now: serving glorious Communism. When the China's government asks Li Cunxin to return to his country, he marries Liz and defects to USA. But five years later, he has a great surprise during a performance. This leads to him being grudgingly permitted by the Academy to travel abroad to Ben Stevenson's Houston Ballet company as a visiting student for six weeks as the government has slightly slackened its censorship of Western culture due to upheavals in position. At first overlooked but selected after a suggestion by his teacher during a school visit, Li seems bewildered by the gruff preliminary inspection screening at the provincial capital city of Qingdao. Li and wife, Mary, at the “Mao’s Last Dancer” film premiere. | Queensland Ballet, 2017. It is an empowering tale with so many lessons. He was discovered by Ben Stevenson, one of the world’s most respected teachers, choreographer and the Artistic Director of the Houston Ballet as part of the first US cultural delegation to communist China. Synopsis From a grueling apprenticeship as a classical dancer in communist China, to the glory of creative freedom in America. It is a story that can touch people deep in their hearts. He then danced with the Houston Ballet for sixteen years and became one of the best dancers in the world. Li, his former wife Elizabeth, and his attorney Charles Foster, leaving the Chinese Consulate, Houston, TX. The love of his parents gave him hope and courage. With incredible determination, resilience, perseverance and vision, Li graduated as one of the best dancers China has produced. There is no freedom within the rigid schedule, where he must balance hours and hours of dance classes along with strenuous academic classes. In Australia, he keeps dancing, but also gets a job managing one of the largest stock brokerage firms in Australia. 1989, In Mao’s China. As a motivational and inspirational speaker, Li’s unique real life story works so effectively with corporations and conferences’ various themes and objectives. Website by bigfish.tv. 1981. 1976. Privacy Policy. It was number one in the non-fiction category and won the Book of the Year Award in Australia, the Christopher Award in America and it was short-list for the National Biography Award among other prestigious literary awards. However, despite the lies, the government refuses to let him return to the U.S. Three months later, he manages to get his visa and goes—this time for a full year dancing in the Houston Ballet. Parents Guide. He starts a secret romance with aspiring American dancer, Elizabeth Mackey, keeping it a secret so his government doesn't find out and send him back. Dancing to Freedom: The True Story of Mao's Last Dancer Library Binding – July 22, 2008 by Li Cunxin (Author), Anne Spudvilas (Illustrator) 3.4 out of 5 stars 9 ratings. His journey filled with dreams shattered and revitalized. He would practise his turns at night by candlelight, and hopped, one-legged, up and down stairs with heavy sandbags tied to his ankles to build his leg strength at 5 am in the mornings when others were still asleep. Visiting the Chinese Consulate to announce his decision while trying to prevent the sure backlash on Stevenson, the resident Chinese diplomat forcibly detains Li in attempt to coerce his return to China; when he continues to refuse to go willingly, the Party agrees to release and allow him to stay, but revokes his citizenship and declares he can never return to the land of his birth. Maos Last Dancer. In a village of China (named Quing-Dao in the book), the eleven year-old Li Cunxin is selected by the Communist Party to study ballet at the Madame Mao's Dance Academy in Beijing. Li was born into bitter poverty in rural Qingdao, China. It recounts his journey from a young, impoverished village boy destined to labor in the fields of China to a world-famous professional dancer. At the age of 11, Li was plucked from a poor Chinese village by Madame Mao's cultural delegates and taken to Beijing to study ballet. However, he knows this sentiment is too dangerous to be spoken, and upon return to China, even though he loved every bit of America, he tones it down and recites some Communist propaganda for the report to be filed so he can return in two months time. Teacher Xiao keeps an eye on Cunxin, spotting something other teachers hadn't yet seen. In the last month, Cunxin is reluctant to leave, so he and Elizabeth rush their marriage so that Cunxin can remain in the United States indefinitely, thus avoiding a defection which may have consequences for his family. Certain years the peasants in his village even ate tree barks to survive. Maos last dancer Mao’s last dancer is a true story of Li Cunxin. America is not filled with filthy-looking capitalists, and the sheer wealth and size of the buildings and the people clearly indicate that China is the poverty stricken country, not America. He continues to visit his mother and his village, never forgetting where he came from. He has published a remarkable book about his extraordinary life. Years later, he travels to Houston in a cultural exchange program invited by the artistic director Ben Stevenson and he is promoted to principal dancer of the Houston Ballet. In a dramatic defection, Li was subsequently locked up in the Chinese Consulate in Houston. In 1979, during a cultural exchange to Texas, he fell in love with an American woman. Li meets and marries Australian ballerina Mary McKendry, and they finally go back to his old village. While dancing in London, he fell in love with an Australian born ballerina with a major ballet company in England, Mary McKendry. From bitter poverty to the stardom of the West - this is the extraordinary true story of one boy’s great courage and determination. Twenty-one hours later, Li walked out of the Chinese Consulate as a free man. The arrival of a new teacher, this one less likely to shout, changes his grim outlook on dance. 1991. In Maoist China, a boy is taken from his family and trained to become a dancer, but everything he knows is challenged when he is chosen to attend a ballet summer school in Houston, Texas. For those who love art, it is extremely artistic. The ballet sequences are terrific. He struggles at the academy, failing to excel as he tries to cope with his homesickness. “Mao’s Last Dancer” was made into a blockbuster film in 2009 and won several international prestigious awards. Selected to travel to Beijing to audition for a place in Madame Mao's Dance Academy, he is admitted to its ballet school after passing a series of physical tests. Terms of Use. This combined with the moving supporting ballet sequences and still photographs create an experience to be cherished. He is forbidden to return to China and has no news of his parents and family. He enrolled in accounting and financial courses. At age 35, Li started to plan his next career after dancing. Li receiving his Honorary Doctorate, Griffith University. In his runaway best selling autobiography, “Mao’s Last Dancer”, Li recounts his determination, perseverance, vision, courage and hard work, and in particular, the sacred family values and integrity that he learned in poverty-stricken China, which has driven him to become one of the best dancers in the world. | In 1997 he began his study at the Australian Securities Institute by correspondence with a view to becoming a stockbroker. MAOS LAST DANCER captures the intoxicating effects of first love and celebrity, the pain of exile, and ultimately the triumph of individual endeavour over ideology. | Despite the setback, he continues dancing, and soon after, the Chinese government allowed his parents to come to America to visit him after six years of being cut off from his family. The inspirational true story, adapted from a best-selling autobiography, of a small boys extraordinary journey from poverty to international stardom. MAO’S LAST DANCER is an extremely beautiful movie. Better yet, it is a powerful, well-told story with great turning points. By the time he joined the rest of the Australian Ballet dancers for rehearsals, he had already put in a full day’s work. He guest performed around the world with some of the best ballet companies and won two silver and a bronze medal at three International Ballet Competitions.