Mao’s Last Dancer

6.5 2009 1h 57m Australia

Drama Romance

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.

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About

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.

Details

Directors

Bruce Beresford

Writers

Jan Sardi, Cunxin Li

Cast

Amanda Schull, Chi Cao, Chengwu Guo, Wen Bin Huang, Joan Chen, Bruce Greenwood, Kyle MacLachlan, Jack Thompson, Camilla Vergotis, Madeleine Eastoe, Steven Heathcote, Aden Young, Wang Shuangbao, Barbara Bush, George H. W. Bush

Production

Great Scott Productions Pty. Ltd.

Languages

Mandarin, English

Countries

Australia, China