Mao's Last Dancer
Li!
Hello!
Ni hao. Welcome to America.
Oh, its so wonderful
to see you.
- You alright?
- Yes. Yes.
Yeah? I've got some people
for you to meet.
This is Cyntha Dodds.
She's the general manager
of the company.
Pleased to meet you, Li.
And Mason Daniels.
He's on our board.
Howdy! Welcome to Houston.
And Betty Lou Bayless.
It's lovely to meet you,
young man.
- And Lori Lawley.
- Hi, Li.
I've heard so much
about you from Ben.
Lori's one of our
principal dancers.
- This is my husband, Dilworth.
- 'Knee-how', Li.
Wecome to Houston,
home of the Oilers.
Li:
Upon my soul.Have you been learning English, Li?
Oh, yes, Ben.
- I learn from this.
- Oh, fantastic!
- Uh, 'fantas... '
- Fantastic. Fantastic.
It means wonderful,
very good, great.
Oh.
Fantastic.
Big... big house, Ben.
Um... you have a big family?
No, no it's just me.
And this is your room.
Alright?
Um... this all me?
Yes, it's all yours.
Yaaa!
- You get settled alright?
- Yes.
Oh, God, we really must do somethng
about that suit.
It's me, Ben.
Yes, that's you.
Bobby's around. You'll see him.
But Mary, alas,
has gone back to Australia.
Uh... niang, dia?
Um... mother... um, father?
Oh, no. That's Vice President Bush
and his wife, Barbara.
She's patron of
the Houston ballet.
Would you like a muffin?
Mu... muffin?
Yeah.
Um... horse... horse...
m... muffin?
Crap? Sh*t? Horse...
Horse sh*t?
Yes. Yeah.
No!
This is a muffin.
Here.
It's Gershwin, guys.
You've got to feel it.
Li, you're doing fine.
You'll pick it up. Its alright.
And... slow pli.
And stretch it out, right?
And... up wth the accent.
Up with the accent.
Up, and down on the floor.
Lovely. Hold.
And hold.
Alright.
That's alright.
Incredible physique.
If you do say so yourself.
Some brown ones?
OK, one last one
and that's enough.
Let's see.
What's wrong?
Hmm.
My father work very hard,
have 50... 50 dollar... one year.
And you spend 500... one day.
Why you... why you do this?
Li, you know, I'm not
trying to influence you.
It's justwhat people
wear here, that's all.
I think that's probably why your
government gave youthis suit.
It's just a trifle out of date,
that's all.
I must give suit back.
Well, you can give these back
when you go home.
These can be yours to have
while you're here
Why bird on?
"Don't let
the turkeys get you down. "
It's not a captalist thing,
Li, it's just...
Honesty, it's just
a bit of nonsense,
like a lot of things in America.
What it mean?
when you just have to be strong
- Ni hao.
- Ni hao.
Mm.
Oh!
Here you go, Li.
Thank you.
What's this?
It's just Pepsi. Give it a shot.
I know, I know. It's...
Yeah, I know. It gets
up your nose a little.
Whoo!
- Bobby?
- Yeah?
Lori - she good dancer.
Oh, yeah, she is.
But for a principal ballerina,
she makes
Hey, you wanna dance, Li?
- No.
- Aww!
Allow me.
Dilworth, you like ballet?
I like ballerinas, Li. Very agile.
Chairman Mao, huh?
Yes, I love Chairman Mao.
He do many good thing.
Can't say I feel the same
about our new president.
You love president?
No, Li,
I dont even like him.
Shhh!
You not scared?
Scared? No.
This is America, Li.
Arabesque.
Oh!
NEWSREEL NARRATOR
I'm Shi Dao from
the Ministry of Culture.
Oh, thank you.
Ben Stevenson
- Welcome to Beijing.
- Thank you.
Let me introduce Mr Wang.
Hello.
Director for Beijing Academy.
Mr Hung...
A pleasure to meet you.
These are
my princpal dancers,
Mary McKendry
and Bobby Cordner.
- Hello.
- Welcome to Beijing.
- Thank you.
- Thank you so much.
Music, please. Thank you.
ALLEGRO:
BEN RITMATO E DECISO'
Lovely. Alright, thank you.
Lets, um... Lovely. Not bad.
Lets try that just from
the beginning and copy them.
Right?
Five, six, seven, eight.
And five, six seven, eight.
And one, two and three. Lovely!
Lovely. That's very good. Alright.
Let's try it with music, shall we?
Lovely. Yes, turn, turn, turn.
Travel, travel, travel, travel!
Back in back in.
Energy, energy.
Right. Ready for the jump!
Yes, yes, yes!
Very good, very good indeed.
Alright, back to the top.
They're so light in the air
and so strong.
But there's no emotion.
They're not connected,
I'm not engaged.
Amazing technique.
We yeah, but, you know,
they remind me more of athletes
than dancers.
All except... Theres one,
perhaps two. Certanly one.
I think I know who you mean.
And from
the port de bras, yes?
And dvelopp.
Right, Li, get ready
to come in for the lift.
Mm-hm.
Oh, that's really not working.
Uh... Mary, would you
stand here for a moment?
Shing Hua, stay here
for one moment, alright?
Mary, you do it. Li, would you partner
Mary, please?
And, from the beginning, yeah?
Alright?
Its alright, I won't bite.
Coud you tell him?
Right. Come on, come on.
There we go.
Ni hao.
I'm Mary.
Ni hao.
Minister, you have some
We've run the summer program
and we've been
very successful.
Yeah, I see.
It's a tremendous success.
I think they're talking about us.
Probably.
Because it would be wonderful
for the Houston Ballet.
The decision would
have to be made
by the party, Mr Stevenson.
Oh, of course,
I understand. Yes.
Alright.
How'd it go?
Well, they're going to
consider it.
I expect they take it
to the highest level.
Well, how long
will that take?
It's not up to me. It's up to
the Chinese Government.
We're ready for photograph,
Mr Stevenson.
Alright.
Hi.
Um... I can go if you
want to use the studio.
No, um, stay.
Watch.
Arabesque
Um... foot... stretch
Oh, I can't.
Um, my ankle, I broke it.
Right here. They put a rod in it.
When they took the cast off
my calf had shrunk two inches.
It's fine now, I think.
It's just my confidence.
I'm sorry, you don't understand.
Um, I-I understand.
- You do?
- Uh...
No.
- En pointe. En pointe.
- OK.
This, turn out.
Yeah.
Better.
I'm Elizabeth, by the way.
Everyone calls me Liz.
- Liz?
- Yeah.
Like Li.
Everyone call me Li.
Yeah, I know who you are.
Li Cunxin.
- 'Schwinsin'?
- Mm.
That's really beautiful.
What does it mean?
Um, it mean...
...'keep my innocent heart'.
Um... you dance with company?
Oh, no. No.
I was in the corps of...
'Nutcracker' once,
butthats as close as
I've come to getting a contract.
This is my second time
in the full-time program
trying to get Ben to notice me.
Ben?
Yeah?
Today, in street, someone speak me
word I not understand.
Um, not find in here.
What was it?
Um... 'chink'.
What it mean?
Um, let's see.
Do you know when
youre in the theatre,
and everyone is getting seated
andthe curtain is closed,
and the curtain parts
just a tiny little bit
then the light from the stage
shines through
what we call a chink
in thecurtain.
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"Mao's Last Dancer" Scripts.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 5 Nov. 2024. <https://www.scripts.com/script/mao's_last_dancer_13341>.
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