Now we all wore these thick quilted coats and pants our mothers had made for us and we looked like little round gnomes, and these advisers were trying to look at our facial expressions and get a vague idea of our body type, so at first they passed me by, but as they were walking out the door, my teacher tapped them on the shoulder and said what about that one? And that was it. Later, we were led into the head of the school’s office, and they stripped us bare and measured every inch of our bodies, and we were forced to lift our legs up. It was very painful. It turns out they tore both my hamstrings.  Q. The training in the film is depicted as very rigorous. Is that how it was? Is it different from ballet schools elsewhere?  A. Yes, it’s very different. We started from 5:30 in the morning to all the way till 9 at night, six days a week. We did not only ballet, but acrobatics, martial arts; we also did pas de deux. But also, most importantly, we were brainwashed politically, to believe in Communism and to really be the Red Guard in the ballet world.  Q. When did you fall in love with ballet? Were you interested in it at all in the beginning?  A. I hated ballet at the beginning. I thought it was the most boring thing, but eventually, this wonderful teacher came into my life, and he really loved ballet. It was the end of the second year and I was really on the verge of being sent home, and this wonderful teacher came into my life and he really imparted a passion for dance onto me.  Q. Did you and your fellow students really watch videos of Baryshnikov?  A. Yes, after Mao died, one of the former graduates of the Beijing Dance Academy, who lived in Japan at the time, she brought that back as a gift to the school. And at first only the teachers were allowed to watch. Eventually we begged and watched that videotape, and my imagination just flew away and Baryshnikov became a consistent source of inspiration.  Q. What did your defection mean for other artists in China?  A. I’m sort of the first defector from China in the cultural area, and that was still the time when China was so closed. After me, all of a sudden that opened the door for Chinese artists. Through my story, I hope the audience will get a sense of the changes that have been happening in China. Also coming from a Chinese background, ballet is so Western, so to be able to get to the international stage and be successful is a great cultural step.  Q. What was it like to perform in America for the first time?  A. It was incredible. When I first stepped in for an injured dancer, I just felt for the first time in my life, I felt free, even though I was so nervous. I was in front of an audience which truly loved the dance art form, and the audience was electrified that night, and people screamed and yelled out. I never could have dreamed of that type of reception.  Q. Do you regret any of the sacrifices you were forced to make?  A. When I stayed in America after my defection I was completely cut off from my family and all the people I loved for six years. Thinking I would never be allowed to go back to China to see them again — it was the most painful sacrifice a person could make. But would I do it again given the same set of circumstances? I would.  Q. What was it like to first arrive in Houston?  A. I had this very ill-conceived notion because of my 18 years of Communist brain-washing, I thought I was going to see a poverty-stricken society, I was brainwashed to believe that Mao’s children were living the happiest life imaginable, so going to America was really upside down. It took me a while to warm up to people. They were so friendly I thought they must have some hidden agenda. It took me a while to open up.  Q. Did it influence you as an artist?  A. As an artist to feel that freedom to dance with no fear, no political pressure, is really incredible, and I could never have experienced that if I was still in China.  A version of this article appears in print on August 21, 2010, on Page C1 of the New York edition with the headline: Heading West: A Ballet Dancer From China Looks Back. Order Reprints| Today's Paper|Subscribe
Li Cunxin’s journey from his home in rural China to pursue ballet in the United States is chronicled in “Mao’s Last Dancer,” a new movie by Bruce Beresford.