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BRISBANE: Ever since Li Cunxin was brought out of rural China to join Madame Mao’s elite ballet school, through his exile in the United States and now the pandemic, his life has been a reluctant pas de deux with the politics.
The 59-year-old artistic director of the Queensland Ballet, one of Australia’s leading dance companies, prefers to focus the discussion on his art.
But its rise from humble beginnings has been marked by political upheaval, from the horrors of Mao Zedong’s Great Leap Forward to life in exile, to the anti-China backlash to the current coronavirus pandemic.
Li was born in 1961 when Mao’s flawed development plan caused a famine in China.
Every day was “a fight for survival” for Li’s poverty-stricken peasant family, he told AFP.
Things started to change when recruiters from Madame Mao’s Beijing Dance Academy visited his school when he was 11 years old.
“My class teacher stood by the door and did something very unusual. She stopped (the) last gentleman from Beijing to leave the room and said ‘What about that one?’ And she pointed at me. “
Li went through tough auditions to become one of 44 children selected out of millions to begin seven years of “absolutely brutal” ballet training.
“We started from 5.30 in the morning until 9 at night. Six days a week we train,” he said.
CHALLENGE AND DEFECTION
The rigorous program instilled a lifelong sense of discipline and perseverance, but at first young Li felt bored and hated ballet.
Finally, another teacher stepped in and helped Li become, he says quite naturally, “widely regarded as the best dancer China has ever produced.”
In 1979, in the middle of the Cold War, he was invited to study with the Houston Ballet, where he fell in love with and married an American dancer, which led to his “darkest moment.”
Arriving at the city’s Chinese consulate to share what he thought was good news, Li was immediately arrested for defying the Communist Party.
“For more than 21 hours I was interrogated. And I felt that my life was really at stake,” he said.
Then came a crucial intervention: the president of the United States, George Bush, and his wife Barbara, who was on the board of the Houston Ballet, successfully lobbied for his release.
Li defected, severing all ties with China. He then became the principal director of the Houston Ballet and later, after moving to Melbourne with his second wife, the Australian Ballet.
Since Li Cunxin was brought out of rural China to join Madame Mao’s elite ballet school. (Photo: AFP / Patrick HAMILTON)
Li was banned from returning for many years, and today he assiduously avoids politics, deflecting questions about Beijing’s current attacks on citizens abroad.
Relations between their current and former homes are cold, and relations between Canberra and Beijing reached new lows after Australia called for an investigation into the origins of the pandemic.
Racism has increased
It is a “very difficult time” for Sino-Australians, many of whom feel “caught in the middle” of the two nations, according to the director of the Center for Asian-Australian Leadership, Jieh-Yung Lo.
Australians’ opinion of China has plummeted while racism against Sino-Australians has exploded, Lo said, making role models like Li, who can bridge the gap, more important than ever.
“The real hope to combat this is to have more Chinese-Australians in leadership positions in Australia’s public and private institutions,” Lo said.
As artistic director of the Queensland Ballet since 2012, following a long stint as a stockbroker after retiring from acting, Li is credited with revitalizing the company.
It has grown from a 24-member company with an annual budget of A $ 5 million (US $ 4 million), to 60 dancers with a budget of A $ 24 million (US $ 17 million).
Like for many in the arts around the world, those hard-earned accomplishments are suddenly at risk from the coronavirus pandemic.
READ: Australia’s Melbourne enjoys first weekend out of lockdown as COVID-19 cases decline
When the first cases of COVID-19 emerged, Li took a “great risk” by deciding to move the entire Queensland Ballet season to 2021.
While the decision provided much-needed certainty, it also created a hole in revenue.
Although Australia has largely slowed down the virus outbreak, Li says he cannot be more than 50% sure the company will do business next year.
He also can’t rule out more “tough decisions,” including job cuts, but he wants to help steer the industry through the crisis, particularly through his seat on a government arts advisory board.
“We want to get involved with our community because we believe that the arts will play a vital role in helping people out of this pandemic … the arts are inspiring, they lift people’s spirits and give them hope,” he said.
“But there is no question: the road ahead, at least for the next two years, is going to be very, very challenging.”
After a successful life stemming from struggle, Li is optimistic about the future.
“I’m optimistic. I tend to see challenges, difficulties, or obstacles as opportunities in disguise.”
