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.

Just invest a Ittle more

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It's just a trifle out of date,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

at summer school and...

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?

It means there are times

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

a lousy disco dancer.

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'

BY GEORGE GERSHWIN PLAYS)

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

realy wonderful dancers here.

We've run the summer program

for several years now

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,

if the stage light is on,

and the curtain parts

just a tiny little bit

then the light from the stage

shines through

what we call a chink

in thecurtain.

So if someone calls you

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