At 61 years of age, most ballet dancers have long since hung up the slippers. But Li Cunxin is no ordinary dancer.

Better known as “Mao’s Last Dancer”, after 2003’s bestselling memoir of his journey from Chinese peasant to principal with Houston Ballet, Li is about to pirouette in public for the first time in five years as part of Queensland Ballet’s $1.5 million production of Manon.