Mao’s Last Dancer
2009 | 1h 57m
Before you can fly, you have to be free.
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. In 1979, during a cultural exchange to Texas, he falls in love with an American woman. 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.
Storyline
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. In 1979, during a cultural exchange to Texas, he falls in love with an American woman. 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.
Cast & Crew
Bruce Beresford
Director
Bruce Greenwood
Ben Stevenson
Kyle MacLachlan
Charles Foster
Joan Chen
Niang
Chi Cao
Li Cunxin - adult
Amanda Schull
Elizabeth Mackey
