Li Cunxin, artistic director of the Queensland Ballet, joins us today on Talking Pointes. Most of you will know Li from his early life. He is Mao's Last Dancer. Li was born into complete poverty in rural China, where he was plucked from obscurity to join the Beijing Dance Academy. He was put through years of brutal training, up to 16 hours a day, to become a dancer. However, his life was meant to be one of twists and turns. He was chosen to undergo an exchange to the United States to dance with the Houston Ballet and while he was there he fell in love and married an American dancer. The resulting standoff between the USA and China made Li a global name, and with it, a ballet superstar. But with that success also came pain. In this wonderfully personal and at times emotional interview, Li shares stories from his early life, and the trauma of being banned from China, but he also shares the highs, reuniting with his parents, finding enduring love and to learning Auslan for his eldest daughter, Sophie. Hosted by Claudia Lawson

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Talking Pointes is produced on the lands of the Gadigal People of the Eora Nation, to whom we pay our greatest respects. 

This season of Talking Pointes is sponsored by Energetiks. Energetics, specialize in creating sustainable for the stars of tomorrow. Perform and feel your best at every stage of your dance journey in energetics, premium, high performance fabrics. Talking Pointes listeners receive a discount code of 20% to use on their extensive range online @ energetics.com au or for our US listeners, it's energetics.com, Ts and Cs apply. 

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Hosted by @byclaudialawson

Produced by @fjordreview

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Sound & Editing @outputmedia

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