WwW.TuNiSiA-MuSiC.CoM ..:: MOHAMEDHK2 ::..
(FOOTSTEPS)
MAN: Li
Hello!
Ni hao. Welcome to America.
Oh, it's so wonderful to see you.
- You alright? - Yes. Yes.
Yeah? I've got some people for you to meet.
This is Cynthia Dodds.
She's the general manager of the company.
Pleased to meet you, Li.
And Mason Daniels. He's on our board.
Howdy! Welcome to Houston.
And Betty Lou Bayless.
It's lovely to meet you, young man.
- And Lori Lawley. - Hi, Li.
I've heard so much about you from ben.
Lori's one of our principal dancers.
- This is my husband, Dilworth, - 'Knee-how', Li.
Welcome to Houston, home of the Oilers.
LI: Upon my soul.
Have you been learning English, Li?
Oh, yes, Ben.
- I learn from this. - Oh, fantastiC!
- Uh, 'fantas...' - Fantastic. Fantastic.
It means wonderful. very good, great.
Oh.
Fantastic.
Big...big house, Ben.
Um...you have a big family?
No, no, it's just me.
And this is your room.
Alright?
Um...this all me?
Yes, it's aLL yours.
(CHILDREN SHOUT)
Yaaa!
(TEACHER SHOUTS IN CHINESE)
(BOYS SHOUT)
- You get settled alright? - Yes.
Oh, God, we really must do something about that suit.
It's me, Ben.
Yes, that's you.
Bobby's around. You'll see him.
But Mary, alas, has gone back to Australia.
Uh...niang, dia?
Um...mother...um, father?
Oh, no. That's Vice President Bush and his wife, Barbara.
She's patron of the Houston ballet.
Would you like a muffin?
Mu...muffin?
Yeah.
Um...horse...horse... m...muffin?
Crap? Shit? Horse... (BLOWS RASPBERRY)
Horse shit?
Yes. Yeah.
No!
This is a muffin.
Here.
BEN: It's Gershwin, guys. You've got to feel it.
Just invest a little more.
Li, you're doing fine. You'll pick it up. It's alright.
And...slow plié.
And stretch it out, right?
And...up with the acCent.
Up with the accent.
Up, and down on the floor.
Lovely. Hold.
And hold.
Alright.
That's alright.
Incredible physique.
If you do say so yourself.
CHILD: Some brown ones?
MOTHER: OK, one last one and that's enough.
Let's see.
(RINGS BUZZER)
(BICYCLE BELLS CHIME) (PEOPLE SHOUT)
(ROUSING MARTIAL MUSIC PLAYS)
(GENERATOR RATTLES)
(GENERATOR SPUTTERS)
(FIREWORKS POP)
(DRUMS PLAY)
(TELEVISION PLAYS IN BACKGROUND)
What's wrong?
Hmmm.
My father work very hard,
have 50...50 dollar...one year.
And you spend 500...one day.
Why you...why you do this?
Li, you know, I'm not trying to influence you.
It's just what people wear here, that's all.
I think that's probably why your government gave you this suit.
It's just a trifle out of date, that's all.
I must give suit back.
Well, you can give these back when you go home.
These can be yours to have
while you're here at summer school and...
Why bird on?
(CHUCKLES) "Don't let the turkeys get you down."
It's not a capitalist thing, Li, it's juSt...
Honestly, it's just a bit of nonsense,
like a lot of things in America.
What it mean?
It means there are times when you just have to be strong.
(TRAIN WHISTLE BLOWS)
(CHINESE SONG PLAYS)
(CALLS INSTRUCTIONS IN CHINESE)
(BOY SOBS)
(SOBS)
(FARTS LOUDLY)
(BRIGHT PIANO MUSIC PLAYS)
(TEACHER CHAN CALLS INSTRUCTIONS)
- Ni hao. - Ni hao.
Mm.
Oh!
(TEACHER CHAN CALLS INSTRUCTIONS)
(TEACHER CHAN SPEAKS CHINESE)
(PIANO PLAYS SLOW MELODY)
CALLS INSTRUCTIONS)
(CHUCKLES)
('LET'S GROOVE' BY EARTH, WIND AND FIRE PLAYS)
Here you go, Li.
Thank you.
What is this?
It's just Pepsi. Give it a shot.
I know, I know. it's...
Yeah, i know. It gets up your nose a little.
Whoo!
- BobBy? - Yeah?
Lori - she good dancer.
Oh, yeah, she is.
But for a principal ballerina,
she makes a lousy disco dancer.
Hey, you wanna dance, Li?
- No. - Aww!
Allow me.
Dilworth, you like ballet?
I like ballerinas, Li. Very agile.
Chairman Mao, huh?
Yes, I love Chairman Mao.
He do many good thing.
Can't say I feel the same about our new president.
You love president?
(LAUGHS) No, Li, I don't even like him.
Shhh!
You not scared?
Scared? No.
This is America, Li.
CALLS INSTRUCTIONS)
Arabesque.
(PEOPLE CHANT)
(ELEGANT ORCHESTRAL MUSIC PLAYS)
(MUSIC CLIMAXES)
(MUSIC ENDS)
(BOTH EXCHANGE GREETINGS)
(CHINESE ORCHESTRAL MUSIC PLAYS)
(MUSIC SWELLS)
(MUSIC ENDS)
(BOY CHATTERS QUIETLY)
(WHISPERS)
(APPLAUSE)
(BRIGHT ORCHESTRAL MUSIC PLAYS)
Oh!
(APPLAUSE)
(WILD APPLAUSE AND CHEERING)
NEWSREEL NARRATOR:
I'm Shi Dao from the Ministry of Culture.
Oh, thank you.
Ben Stevenson.
- Welcome to Beijing. - Thank yOu.
Let me introduce Mr Wang.
- (SPEAKS CHINESE) - Hello.
Director for Beijing Academy.
- Mr Hung... - (SPEAKERS CHINESE)
BEN: A pleasure to meet you.
These are my principal dancers,
Mary McKendry and Bobby Cordner.
- Hello. - Welcome to Beijing.
- Thank you. - Thank you so much.
- Music, please, Thank you. - (TRANSLATES)
('PRELUDE 1: ALLEGRO BEN RITMATO E DECISO'
BY GEORGE GERSHWIN PLAYS)
Lovely. Alright, thank you.
- (MUSIC STOPS) - Let's um... Lovely. Not bad.
Let's try that just from the beginning and copy them.
Right?
Five, six, seven, eight.
(HUMS TUNE)
And five, six, seven, eight.
And one, two and three. Lovely!
Lovely. That's very good. Alright.
Let's try it with music, shall we?
(MUSIC RESUMES)
Lovely. Yes, turn, turn, turn.
Travel, travel, travel, travel!
(WOMAN TRANSLATES)
Back in, back in. Energy, energy.
Right. Ready for the jump!
(HUMS TUNE)
Yes, yes, yes!
Very good, very good indeed.
Alright, back to the top.
They're so light in the air and so strong.
But there's no emotion.
They're not connected, I'm not engaged.
Amazing techniquE.
Well, yeah, but, you know,
they remind me more of athletes than dancers.
All except... There's one, perhaps two. Certainly one.
I think know who you mean.
BEN: And from the port de bras, yes?
And développé.
Right, Li, get ready to come in for the lift.
- (WOMAN TRANSLATES) - Mm-hm.
oh, that's really not working.
Uh... Mary, would you stand here for a moment?
Shing Hua, stay here for one moment, alright?
Mary, you do it Li, would you partner Mary, please?
And, from the beginning, yeah?
(WOMAN TRANSLATES)
Alright?
It's alright, I won't bite.
- Could you tell him? - (TRANSLATES)
Right. Come on, come on.
There we go.
Ni hao.
I'm Mary.
Ni hao.
(DRAMATIC STRING MUSIC PLAYS)
Minister, you have some really wonderful dancers here.
We've run the summer program for several years now
and we've been very succEssful.
Yeah, I see.
It's a tremendous success.
I think they're talking about us.
Probably.
Because it would be wonderful for the Houston Ballet.
The decision would have to be made
by the party, Mr Stevenson.
Oh, of course, I understand. Yes.
Alright.
BOBBY: How'd it go?
Well, they're going to consider it
I expect they'll take it to the highest level.
MARY: Well, how long will that take?
It's not up to me. it's up to the Chinese Government.
WOMAN: We're ready for photograph, Mr Stevenson.
Alright.
(GENTLE PIANO MUSIC PLAYS)
Hi.
Um...I can go if you want to use the studio.
No, um, stay.
Watch.
Arabesque.
Um...foot...stretch.
Oh, I can't.
Um, my ankle, I broke it.
Right here. They put a rod in it.
When they took the cast off my calf had shrunk two inches.
It's fine now, I think. It's just my confidence.
I'm sorry, you don't understand.
Um, I-I understand.
- You do? - Uh...
No.
- En pointe. En pointe. - OK.
This, turn out.
YeaH.
Better.
I'm Elizabeth, by the way.
Everyone calls me Liz.
- Liz? - Yeah.
Like Li.
Everyone call me Li.
Yeah, I know who you are.
Li Cunxin.
- 'Schwinsin'? - Mm.
That's really beautiful. What does it mean?
Um, it mean...
..'keep my innocent heart'.
Um...you dance with company?
oh, no. No.
I was in the corps of... 'Nutcracker' once,
but that's as close as I've come to getting a contract.
This is my second time in the full-time program
trying to get Ben to notice me.
(LAUGHS)
- LI: Ben? - BEN: Yeah?
Today, in street, someone speak me
word I not understand.
Um, not find in here.
What was it?
Um...'chink'.
What it mean?
Um, let's see.
Do you know when you're in the theatre,
and everyone is getting seated and the curtain is closed,
if the stage light is on,
and the curtain parts just a tiny little bit,
then the light from the stage shines through
what we call a chink in the curtain.
So if someone calls you a 'chink', Li,
what it means is that...
..they see the liGht that's there inside of you.
Oh! Oh...fantastic.
And trace the leg, follow the line.
Nice, Lori.
Pull back. Just feed her out.
And extend the leg. Lovely.
Good, good.
Yeah, yeah. Very good. Very good. Alright?
LI: In Chinese, we say 'will go',
'go today', 'go tomorrow', 'go yesterday',
'you go', 'I go', 'she go', 'we all go',
- (LAUGHS) Right. - Much, much easier.
English changes all time.
You're doing very well.
(SPEAKS CHINESE)
Thank you.
Chinese official not come here.
What do you mean?
- She lau ban. - Lau ban?
Um...boss person.
In China, class enemy.
She looks like an opera diva.
What? What is it?
I am with you, American girl.
Mm-hm.
Make trouble for Ben.
No.
It's OK. No-one has to know.
Um...here. Try this.
What is it?
It's um, vegetable from sea.
Good?
- God, it's so hard to chew. - Hard to chew.
- Yeah, like EnglisH! - (LAUGHS)