Beginning this Friday, Chi Cao, a principal dancer with England’s Birmingham Royal Ballet and star of the internationally acclaimed film Mao’s Last Dancer, will perform the role of the prince in The Nutcracker at 7:30 pm on Friday, December 18; 2:00 pm on Sunday, December 20; 2:00 pm on Tuesday, December 22; and 2:00 pm on Wednesday, December 23.
“Chi has incredible classical and virtuoso technique. He has been very well trained by the Beijing Dance Academy, the same school that trained Li Cunxin, and we are excited to have him perform the Prince in The Nutcracker,” commented Houston Ballet Artistic Director Stanton Welch.
In Mao’s Last Dancer, Cao portrays Houston Ballet’s beloved former dancer Li Cunxin as an adult. Directed by the acclaimed film director Bruce Beresford, the cinematic version of Mao’s Last Dancer debuted at the Toronto International Film Festival in September, was released to great acclaim in Australia in October, and is slated for distribution in the U.S. in 2010.
Read more about Mr. Cao in the Houston Chronicle…
En Pointe with Houston Ballet 
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