The ballet dancer Li Cunxin, the subject of a new film that is on my list for this weekend, writes about how he was discovered at the peak of the Cultural Revolution, how he was trained and how he felt when he first came to the US. His story is absolutely fascinating.
Prior to her losing power, Madame Mao was the Honorary Artistic Director of the Academy. She often visited us, watched our performances and gave orders. One of her strict orders was that we were required to project political values through our dance steps. As a result, our ballet training syllabus was modified and we were encouraged to carry images of the Red Army soldiers in the battleground holding guns or grenades in our hands while we pirouetted and leaped. We had to finish our adage exercise with a death-like eye stare that could spear a capitalist enemy. Madame Mao also supervised some so-called “Model Ballets” such as The Red Detachment of Women and The White Haired Girl. These were ballets full of red colored communist flags with plenty of swords, guns and grenades. It was political ideology gone mad.
Definitely read the whole thing. It’s not long, and it’s not easily forgotten. I especially enjoyed the story of his arrival in the US, a place he was taught was backward and awful. Not long afterward he would vote by foot and stay here.
1
By boo
Fascinating description of impressions of a student in 1979 going from China to the US. That contrast has more or less disappeared by now.
August 28, 2010 @ 10:02 am | Comment
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By Richard
It’s his description of how he got to that point, as “Mao’s last dancer” that makes it so interesting. Obviously if he was just an exchange student who fell in love with America and stayed I wouldn’t put up a post about it. Check the paragraph I quote in the post: this guy has an unusually interesting story.
August 28, 2010 @ 10:23 am | Comment
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By Twisted_Colour
And several years later, after coming to the conclusion that the US really was backwards and awful (or maybe because his wife twisted his arm), he moved to Australia.
August 28, 2010 @ 12:41 pm | Comment
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By MichaelP
Yet another book with the theme of ‘how I had it tough growing up in China then I moved to the west and had culture shock’. The guy is now Greenspan’s last stockbroker. Expect a similar tome from Lang Lang soon.
August 28, 2010 @ 8:18 pm | Comment
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By stuart
It’s a wonderful film. Some lovely moments, as when Li’s teacher is telling his class that China has the greatest standard of living in the world. Li asks what it’s like in America. “Unimagineable” comes the grave reply.
Enjoy it when you get to see it.
August 29, 2010 @ 10:37 am | Comment
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By ecodelta
Exactly, he moved to Australia instead of defecting to Australia
Can yo see the difference?
August 29, 2010 @ 6:21 pm | Comment