李存信

李存信（1961年1月26日—），出生于中国山东省青岛市郊区的李村人民公社。澳大利亚籍华人，中国芭蕾舞男演员。

李存信被江青派来的人看中，被挑选进入北京舞蹈学院。1979年到美国留学，后与美国女子伊丽莎白结婚，其后二人离婚。

在20世纪70年代，李存信作为一个交换学生加入了休斯顿的Ben Stevenson's芭蕾舞团。他那时开始质疑他对中国共产党的忠诚并和美国舞蹈演员伊丽莎白恋爱。为了留在美国，他们很快得结婚了。李存信想回国探亲但却被中国驻休士顿总领事馆扣留。该事件演变成为一个21小时的国际事件。在中国外交人员同美国进行谈判时，美国联邦调查局（FBI）包围了中国驻休斯顿领事馆。李存信最终被同意留在美国，但他的中国国籍被剥夺了。

李存信于1995年移居澳大利亚墨尔本，作为首席艺术家加入澳大利亚芭蕾舞团。他后来与一澳洲女子再婚，38岁结束舞蹈员生涯，改行当股票经纪及作家。2009年，李获澳洲天主教大学颁发荣誉博士学位。

著有《毛泽东时代的最后舞者》一书（繁体中文版：ISBN 9789571350516；英文版书名：Mao's Last Dancer）。

澳大利亚导演布鲁斯·贝雷斯福德（英文：Bruce Beresford）将其生平拍成同名电影《毛主席最后的舞者》，并于2009年多伦多国际电影节首映。

Li Cunxin (born 26 January 1961) is a Chinese-Australian former ballet dancer turned stockbroker. He was the artistic director of the Queensland Ballet between 2012 and 2023.

Early life

Li was the sixth of seven brothers, born into poverty in the Li Commune near the city of Qingdao in the Shandong province of the People's Republic of China. He often had to support his extremely poor family. Li's early life coincided with Mao Zedong's rule over the new Communist nation. Li had a strong desire to serve China's Communist Party. He was quite politically devout, eventually joining in the CCP's Youth League. At the age of eleven, he was chosen by Madame Mao's cultural advisors to attend the Beijing Dance Academy, where students had to undergo 16-hour-a-day training. He attended the academy for seven years. The regime in Beijing Dance was harsh, starting each morning at 5:30. Li performed well in political studies, but did poorly in ballet. This changed when he met Teacher Xiao, who had a passion for ballet. Xiao's passion influenced Li, and by the end of the seven years of training, he graduated at the top of his class.

Career

Artistic Director of the Houston Ballet Ben Stevenson was teaching two semesters at the Beijing Dance Academy. He offered a full scholarship for two dancers to study at the Houston Ballet summer school and Li was chosen as one. (Li was one of the first students from the Beijing Dance Academy to go to the United States under financial support from the central government of the People's Republic of China.)

United States

After his study at the summer school, Li defected to the West. He was held in the Chinese Consulate in Houston, his defection creating headlines in America. He had begun a relationship with an aspiring American dancer, Elizabeth Mackey, and in 1981, they married so that Li could avoid deportation. After 21 hours of negotiations, and intervention by then Vice President George H. W. Bush, Li was allowed to stay in the US as a free man, but his Chinese citizenship was revoked.

Australia

Li subsequently danced with the Houston Ballet for sixteen years, during which he won two silver and a bronze medal at International Ballet Competitions. While dancing in London, he met ballerina Mary McKendry from Rockhampton, Australia. They married in 1987. In 1995 they moved to Melbourne, Australia, with their two children. Li became a principal dancer with the Australian Ballet.

In July 2012, Li was named artistic director of the Queensland Ballet. Li established himself as a mainstay of Brisbane's cultural scene.

On 20 June 2023, Li announced that he and his wife Mary would retire at the end of 2023, her being in the teaching position as principal repetiteur with the ballet company. Li cited a heart condition, and Mary has been undergoing treatment for cancer. Li is now retired and living in Brisbane.

Honours

He was named Australian Father of the Year in 2009.

In July 2016, Barbara Baehr and Robert Whyte from the Queensland Museum named a newly discovered spider species Maratus licunxini after Li Cunxin. Dr Baehr said a Queensland Ballet performance of Li's A Midsummer Night's Dream reminded her of the stunning mating display of the peacock spider. Li said he was honoured to have the spider named after him saying "having seen this incredible spider, the intricate mating dance, the fancy peacock markings, I can understand why Barbara would make a link with our ballet dancers."

In 2017, after 18 years off-stage, Li returned for a one-off performance as Drosselmeyer, specially choreographed by Ben Stevenson, in The Nutcracker for the Queensland Ballet, dancing again with his wife, Mary McKendry, with whom he last danced in this work 26 years ago in Houston.

In the 2019 Birthday Honours, Li was appointed officer (AO) of the Order of Australia for "distinguished service to the performing arts, particularly to ballet, as a dancer and artistic director".