Before you can fly, you have to be free.
At the age of 11, Li was plucked from a poor Chinese village by Madame Mao's cultural delegates and taken to Beijing to study ballet. In 1979, during a cultural exchange to Texas, he fell in love with an American woman. Two years later, he managed to defect and went on to perform as a principal dancer for the Houston Ballet and as a principal artist with the Australian Ballet.
Similiar movies
Nijinsky
The film suggests Nijinsky was driven into madness by both his consuming ambition and self-enforced heterosexuality, the latter prompted by his romantic involvement with Romola de Pulszky, a society girl who joins impresario Sergei Diaghilev's Ballets Russes specifically to seduce Nijinsky. After a series of misunderstandings with Diaghilev, who is both his domineering mentor and possessive lover, Nijinsky succumbs to Romola's charms and marries her, after which his gradual decline from artistic moodiness to complete lunacy begins.
One Last Dance
In the wake of tragedy, a renowed New York dance company is on the brink of collapse. After leaving the dance world for good, Travis, Chrissa, and Max are pulled in to resurrect the dance that shattered their careers. They have one last chance to save the company, re-connect with the passion and magic, and prove that miracles really can happen.
Center Stage: Turn It Up
All self-taught dancer Kate Parker has ever wanted to do was perform with the American Academy of Ballet. But when she doesnt make it after auditioning, she learns that it takes more than precision and perfection to succeed in the dance world.
The Company
Ensemble drama centered around a group of ballet dancers, with a focus on one young dancer who's poised to become a principal performer.
Dance with Me
Young Cuban Rafael just buried his mother, and comes to Houston to meet his father John for the first time. The difficult part is that John doesn't know he is Rafael's father. John runs a dance studio, and everyone prepares for the World Open Dance championship in Las Vegas. It soon becomes clear Rafael is a very good dancer, and Ruby is the biggest hope for the studio at the championship.
StreetDance 3D
In order to win the Street Dance Championships, a dance crew is forced to work with ballet dancers from the Royal Dance School in exchange for rehearsal space.
Dingo
Young John Anderson is captivated by jazz musician, Billy Cross when he performs on the remote airstrip of his Western Australian outback hometown after his plane is diverted. Years later, now a family man and making a meagre living tracking dingoes and playing trumpet in a local band, John still dreams of joining Billy on trumpet and makes a pilgrimage to Paris.
Madame Sousatzka
In London, eccentric piano instructor Madame Sousatzka takes on a new prize protégé, Manek, a teenage Bengali immigrant who displays incredible talent. Manek forms a close bond with his teacher, but soon discovers that she expects her pupils to become disciplined in all areas of life, and not just behind the piano
Strictly Ballroom
Brave new steps put Scott's career in jeopardy. With a new partner and determination, can he still succeed?
Selena
In this biographical drama, Selena Quintanilla is born into a musical Mexican-American family in Texas. Her father, Abraham, realizes that his young daughter is talented and begins performing with her at small venues. She finds success and falls for her guitarist, Chris Perez, who draws the ire of her father. Seeking mainstream stardom, Selena begins recording an English-language album which, tragically, she would never complete.
Step Up 2: The Streets
When rebellious street dancer Andie lands at the elite Maryland School of the Arts, she finds herself fighting to fit in while also trying to hold onto her old life. When she joins forces with the schools hottest dancer, Chase, to form a crew of classmate outcasts to compete in Baltimore s underground dance battle The Streets.
Salsa
Fatherless barrio Puerto Rican Rico is a menial car mechanic by day, but lives for the nights, when he dances and dates hot dancing girls, cockily convinced the title of Salsa king in fancy nightclub La Luna's upcoming contest is to be his. He encourages his best friend, courteous gentleman Ken, to date his sister Margarita so he gets a free hand with her flirtatious classmate Lola. The reigning salsa queen Luna's interest in Rico as dance-partner threatens his on-off relationship with Vicki. More jealous trouble follows when Ken and Margarita fall in true love.
Similiar TV Shows
Aliens in America
Justin Tolchuk is a sensitive, lanky 16-year-old just trying to make it through the social nightmare of high school in Medora, Wisconsin. When his well-meaning mom Franny signs up for the school's international exchange student program, she pictures an athletic, brilliant Nordic teen who will bestow instant coolness on her outsider son. However, when the Tolchuk's exchange student arrives, he turns out to be Raja Musharaff, a 16-year-old Pakistani Muslim. It's going to be a very interesting year for Raja, Justin, his family and the entire population of Medora.
Backstage
A group of “very talented” teenagers sing, dance, and perform their way to the top at the famous Keaton School of the Arts! From the disappointments of failure, to the new friendships and crowning achievements, being a student at Keaton means you're on the path to becoming a star!
E Dance Academy
At Sydney's National Dance Academy, a few talented youngsters are recruited for the excruciatingly tough course. It follows Tara Webster, a sheepfarmgirl who's ambition is to be the next best ballerina. Jewish long line of doctors' heir Samuel 'Sammy' and minor juvenile offender Christian are the outsiders but gradually fit in, making new kinds of friends. Star ballerina's daughter Kat also introduces them in the circle of last-year brother Ethan, who already aspires a career as choreographer. Also Abigail, a smart young girl who'll walk over dead bodies to reach the stars tries to sabotage everything and everyone.
Dance Moms
Dance Moms is an American dance reality series that debuted on Lifetime on July 13, 2011. Created by Collins Avenue Productions, it is set in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, at the Abby Lee Dance Company, and follows children's early careers in dance show business, and their mothers. A spinoff series, Dance Moms: Miami, set in Miami at Victor Smalley and Angel Armas' dance studio, Stars Dance Studio, premiered on April 3, 2012, and was cancelled in September 2012 after eight episodes. On October 10, 2012, Lifetime announced that they had picked up Dance Moms for a third season, consisting of 26 episodes, which debuted on January 1, 2013.
Ja'mie: Private School Girl
Ja'mie King, the self-promoting "queen bee" of Summer Heights High, returns from an exchange semester at that public school for her last three months at Hillford Girls Grammar, where she's the unchallenged diva among the school's most popular girls, as well as the school captain. Clothes, cars, boys, parties ... Ja'mie has it all, and her overriding goal is to win the Hillford Medal
Summer Heights High
Exploring what happens over one school term in an average Australian high school, this mockumentary brings to life Jonah, a 13 year old mischievous schoolboy from Tonga with the odds stacked against him; Mr G, an ego-driven drama teacher with delusional showbiz dreams; and Ja’mie, a private schoolgirl on a student exchange, set to make her mark on Summer Heights High.
Rita Rocks
Rita Rocks is a Lifetime original sitcom that ran from October 20, 2008 to December 7, 2009. It is the network's first original comedy in over a decade. The series debuted alongside re-runs of Reba as part of a new comedy hour for Tuesday nights, which later changed to Monday nights. The show stars Nicole Sullivan as Rita, Tisha Campbell-Martin, Richard Ruccolo, Raviv Ullman, and Kelly Gould. On January 11, 2010, Lifetime cancelled the series after two seasons due to low ratings.
Dancing on the Edge
An explosive 1930s drama following a jazz band in London at a time of huge change.
Flesh and Bone
Claire, a talented but emotionally troubled dancer, joins a company in New York City, and soon finds herself immersed in the tough and often cutthroat world of professional ballet. The dark and gritty series will unflinchingly explore the dysfunction and glamour of the ballet world.
You Me Her
An unusual, real-world romance involving relatable people, with one catch - there are three of them! You Me Her infuses the sensibilities of a smart, grounded indie rom-com with a distinctive twist: one of the two parties just happens to be a suburban married couple.
Act of Will
Act of Will is a 1989 mini-series directed by Don Sharp. It the third mini series based on a Barbara Taylor Bradford novel he had directed and was an early lead role for Elizabeth Hurley.
Married to Medicine Houston
Follow five dynamic women on the rise as they face high stakes in both their social circle and the medical world. These doctors and wives of doctors appear to have it all: they are educated, attractive, and polished professionals, but beneath the surface, viewers will see major obstacles that threaten their upward momentum. After putting their lives on hold to be a physician or a dedicated wife, the ladies must navigate marriage, children, family, and Houston society.
Four Weddings and a Funeral
Maya, the young communications director for a New York senatorial campaign, receives a wedding invitation from her college schoolmate now living in London. She leaves her professional and personal life behind, in favor of traveling to England and reconnecting with old friends and ends up in the midst of their personal crises. Relationships are forged and broken, political scandals exposed, London social life lampooned, love affairs ignited and doused, and of course, there are four weddings…and a funeral.
Tiny Pretty Things
When an attack brings down the star student at an elite ballet school, her replacement enters a world of lies, betrayal -- and cutthroat competition.
Robyn Hood
Follows Robyn Loxley and anti-authoritarian masked hip-hop band, The Hood, as they call out injustices and fight for freedom and equality in the city of New Nottingham.
Yellow Earth
A Communist soldier is sent to the countryside to collect folk songs for the Communist Revolution. There he stays with a peasant family and learns that the happy songs he was sent to collect do not exist; the songs he finds are about hardship and suffering. He returns to the army, but promises to come back for the young girl, Cuiqiao, who has been spellbound by his talk of the freedom women have under Communist rule and who wants to join the Communist Army.