Mao's Last Dancer

Li!

Hello!

Ni hao. Welcome to America.

Oh, it's so wonderful to see you.

- You alright? - Yes. Yes.

Yeah? I've got some people for you to meet.

This is Cynthia 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.

Welcome 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!

(TEACHER SHOUTS IN CHINESE)

- You get settled alright? - Yes.

Oh, God, we really must do something 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? Shit? Horse...

Horse shit?

Yes. Yeah.

No!

This is a muffin.

Here.

It's Gershwin, guys. You've got to feel it.

Just invest a little more.

Li, you're doing fine. You'll pick it up. It's alright.

And... slow plié.

And stretch it out, right?

And... up with 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.

(TELEVISION PLAYS IN BACKGROUND)

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 just what people wear here, that's all.

I think that's probably why your government gave you this 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It's just a trifle out of date, that's all.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 capitalist thing, Li, it's just...

Honestly, 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.

(CALLS INSTRUCTIONS IN CHINESE)

(TEACHER CHAN CALLS INSTRUCTIONS)

- Ni hao. - Ni hao.

Mm.

Oh!

(TEACHER CHAN CALLS INSTRUCTIONS)

(TEACHER CHAN SPEAKS CHINESE)

(PIANO PLAYS SLOW MELODY)

('LET'S GROOVE' BY EARTH, WIND AND FIRE PLAYS)

Here you go, Li.

Thank you.

What is 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 don't even like him.

Shhh!

You not scared?

Scared? No.

This is America, Li.

Arabesque.

Oh!

(WILD APPLAUSE AND CHEERING)

I'm Shi Dao from the Ministry of Culture.

Oh, thank you.

Ben Stevenson.

- Welcome to Beijing. - Thank you.

Let me introduce Mr Wang.

- (SPEAKS CHINESE) - Hello.

Director for Beijing Academy.

- Mr Hung... - (SPEAKS CHINESE)

A pleasure to meet you.

These are my principal dancers,

Mary McKendry and Bobby Cordner.

- Hello. - Welcome to Beijing.

- Thank you. - Thank you so much.

- Music, please. Thank you. - (TRANSLATES)

('PRELUDE 1: ALLEGRO BEN RITMATO E DECISO'

BY GEORGE GERSHWIN PLAYS)

Lovely. Alright, thank you.

- (MUSIC STOPS) - Let's, um... Lovely. Not bad.

Let's 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.

Well, yeah, but, you know,

they remind me more of athletes than dancers.

All except... There's one, perhaps two. Certainly one.

I think I know who you mean.

And from the port de bras, yes?

And développé.

Right, Li, get ready to come in for the lift.

- (WOMAN TRANSLATES) - Mm-hm.

Oh, that's really not working.