A Chinese ballet prodigy navigates political oppression, cultural awakening, and personal sacrifice to pursue artistic freedom and love.
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.
Bruce Beresford
Rating: 6.6/10 (122 votes)