Lee, George

Chinese-American ballet dancer George R. Lee was born on February 10, 1935 in Hong Kong to Alexander and Stanislawa Li. Alexander Li was a Chinese acrobat and circus performer and Stanislawa Li was a Polish ballet dancer. The family moved to Shanghai, China in 1941 after Japan invaded Hong Kong during World War II.

George first learned how to dance from his mother, and he continued to take lessons from Russian teachers in Shanghai. As early as age 7, Lee was performing in nightclubs to help his family earn money. His father, Alexander, left the family in Shanghai to find work in western China, and was killed in an accident in 1945. Stanislawa and George stayed in Shanghai until 1949, when they left China and spent two years in Philippine refugee camps. They immigrated to the United States in 1951 after a friend of Alexander’s sponsored them.

Lee resumed his dance training at the School of American Ballet in New York City after he and his mother arrived in the United States. There he met choreographer George Balanchine, who cast Lee in the role of the character “Tea” in the New York City Ballet production of The Nutcracker.

After The Nutcracker ended, Lee toured with the Andre Eglevsky Ballet and various other ballet companies. In 1958, he earned a role in Rodger and Hammerstein’s musical Flower Drum Song on Broadway. This production marked a departure from ballet performance for George. He stayed with the show throughout its entire run on Broadway and remained with the production’s touring company.

George changed the spelling of his surname from 'Li' to 'Lee' after his naturalization as a United States citizen in 1959. He continued to dance professionally throughout the 1960s and into the 1970s. In his mid-forties, Lee began a career as a blackjack dealer at the Four Queens Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas, Nevada, where he would work for the next 40 years. In 2023, Lee was contacted by journalist Jennifer Lin, who subsequently made a documentary film about his life, titled Ten Times Better. The film showcases Lee’s experience as an Asian ballet dancer in the mid-20th century. George Lee passed away at the age of 90 on April 19, 2025 in Las Vegas, Nevada.

Sources:

George Lee oral history interview, 2024 February 29. OH-03437. Audio recording. Oral History Research Center, Special Collections and Archives, University Libraries, University of Nevada, Las Vegas. Las Vegas, Nevada. http://n2t.net/ark:/62930/f1vf57

Lin, Jennifer, dir. Ten Times Better. 2024.

Sandomir, Richard. “George Lee, Trailblazing Chinese Ballet Dancer, Dies at 90.” New York Times, May 9, 2025. https://www.nytimes.com/2025/05/09/arts/dance/george-lee-dead.html