Almost four decades after defecting to the west, Li Cunxin has returned to China.
Li’s story of growing up during China’s cultural revolution and defecting whilst studying in the United States was dramatised in the 2009 film Mao’s Last Dancer.
Now the artistic director of the Queensland Ballet, he has brought his troupe of dancers on a 16-day tour of four major Chinese cities. He tells SBS News it has been a special journey.
“It’s emotional and such a thrilling experience to bring the Queensland Ballet back to the country where it all started for me,” he said.
“It’s almost the feeling as if as a child you left home, and you're now bringing your children back to meet their grandparents.”
Li Cunxin visits Cinderella Ballet School in Beijing. Source: Katrina Yu / SBS News
Li defected from China as a young dancer in 1981 before later becoming a cultural diplomat.
As a student he endured gruelling daily nine-hour lessons at Beijing’s Dance Academy, memories he relived while visiting the ballet school this week.
“I have a great appreciation for what China has done for me as an artist,” Li said.
He says the arts transcend politics and hopes the tour will foster mutual understanding between the people of China and Australia.
“For me, the ballet art form is without boundaries, without any political restriction.”
The Queensland Ballet at Beijing's National Centre for the Performing Arts. Source: Katrina Yu / SBS News
Queensland Ballet performed their production of Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream at Beijing’s National Center for Performing Arts this week.
The company’s tour also included stops in Shanghai, Suzhou, and will visit the northern city of Xi’an. For Li, the most important was the performance in the capital, where his old teachers, mentors and friends were in the audience.
“I was pretty nervous,” he said. “There are high expectations of my company because many people in China, particularly in the arts, know who I am and what I’ve done to rise to the top of the ballet profession in the world stage.”
Australian ambassador to China, Jan Adams, welcomed Li and the company to Beijing, and said cultural exchanges between China and Australia have flourished this year in spite of cooled political ties.
“The relationships at a cultural level are very thick, actually. We have had record numbers of productions come in this last 12 months,” Ms Adams said.
“I think it reinforces the close connections people know we have between China and Australia.”
Zach Feng, one of two Chinese company artists touring with Queensland Ballet. Source: Katrina Yu / SBS News
The film Mao’s Last Dancer inspired Wu Ze to pursue dancing professionally. The 21-year-old from northern China’s Shenyang province idolised Li as a boy and began studying ballet aged 12.
“I practice ballet every day and it’s an inseparable part of who I am. It’s in the blood running through my veins,” Wu said.
“Li is an exemplary figure in Chinese ballet, and I always hoped for the chance to learn from him.”
Wu joined the Queensland Ballet last year and is one of two of its performers who returned home for the tour.
For most though, it was their first time performing in China, including soloist Mia Heathcote, whose parents toured China with The Australian Ballet in the 1980s.
“Both of them have toured to China before, so they have lots of stories from back in their day … it’s quite amazing it’s come full circle that I’m here now. I feel like being in China is like being in a different world almost,” she said.
The Queensland Ballet’s tour of China ends in Xi’an on Sunday.
