Monday, November 15, 2010

It is easy to forget how free we are

This morning I came across a reference to Mao's Last Dancer. From the website's summary of the movie:

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Based on Li's best selling autobiography, MAO'S LAST DANCER is the epic story of a young poverty stricken boy from China and his inspirational journey to international stardom as a world-class dancer.

The story begins when a young Li is taken from his peasant home by the Chinese government and chosen to study ballet in Beijing. Separated from his family and enduring countless hours of practice, Li struggles to find his place in the new life he has been given. Gaining confidence from a kind teacher's encouraging guidance and a chance trip to America, Li finally discovers that his passion has always been dance.
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In doing a little research I found this movie was shown briefly in our area a month ago. Bummer. I would have like to have seen it in the theater. I'll add it to our Netflix queue.

Li Cunxin (the dancer) sounds like an amazing person. His personal website reports that at age 35 he went back to school, studied accounting and finances, and now works at the Australian Stock Exchange. And Wikipedia says that he was named the 2009 Australian Father of the Year.

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