-We move now from Nevada's cannabis economy to a notable Nevadan in the history of dance.

George Lee grew up in Shanghai, where he trained in Russian ballet.

His mother was a dancer as well, and together they fled Communist China, eventually ending up in New York City.

The famous choreographer, George Balanchine, would select him to perform in The Nutcracker, and Gene Kelly later cast him in the original production of Flower Drum Song.

Believed to be the first Asian dancer in the New York City Ballet, his story may have never been told until Jennifer Lin came along.

She's the director of the documentary Ten Times Better and joins us now, along with the documentary subject, George Lee.

Thank you both for joining Nevada Week.

-Thank you.

-Thank you for having us.

-So two years ago, you two didn't even know each other, right?

-That's correct.

-And so as the story goes, Jennifer, you were in New York City at the library researching Asian dancers in ballet.

Why that subject?

And then what do you remember thinking when you came across George's picture?

(Jennifer Lin) I was working on a documentary, researching a documentary about Asian Americans in the dance world.

And so I was very interested in researching The Nutcracker and, specifically, the New York City Ballet's version of The Nutcracker, which is the gold standard, created by George Balanchine, who was a genius.

And I'm looking at the publicity photos from 1954 of The Nutcracker in the library, and I saw photos of the Chinese dance from The Nutcracker, and there was a young Asian dancer by the name of George Lee.

And he got rave reviews in all of the stories about The Nutcracker and the premiere.

And I thought to myself, why don't I know who this is?

Why don't I know who George Lee is?

And what was also curious is that he never performed again for the New York City Ballet.

So I just became obsessed with finding out who is George Lee and what happened to him.

I used to be a newspaper reporter, so I have, you know, I know how to find people.

And it took me about a month, but I finally found George Lee in Las Vegas and called him on the phone.

-So, George, she called you.

You told her, I'm dealing blackjack at the Four Queens.

-Yeah.

-What were you thinking when she said, "Hey, we want to interview you"?

(George Lee) It was a big shock for me, because I've been dealing blackjack and nobody knows me.

I go home and everything, and nobody from dancing world wasn't there.

So then when Jennifer called and asked for George Lee who was ballet dancer, she left a message.

-A voice mail?

-Yeah.

So I call her back.

I say, I'm George Lee, but I'm ballet dancer, though.

And then she said, Oh, that's nice to meet you.

And I say, why?

Nobody know me.

And then comes Jennifer and start open up everything to me.

-What do you mean by "open up everything"?

-Well, open up, she show me that, you know, You was a dancer and you're Asian and the first Asian ballet dancer in the ballet company.

I mean, so-- and that was something I didn't expect to know, you know what I mean?

But she showed me that, This is what I'm looking for.

-And how big of a deal you are.

-Yeah.

-And, Jennifer, I understand you had an emotional reaction to that first conversation.

What was it?

-The first time I spoke to George, he said to me, he said, Why are you calling me?

I'm nobody.

And then he told me his life story.

And beyond just his career in ballet and Broadway, his story is epic--growing up in war-torn China, he was a refugee for two years in the Philippines, he came to America.

He was going to be ten times better because he knew he had to be, and he was and he succeeded.

To me, it was a real classic American tale.

And the reason I was so anxious to tell it is, not only is George a pioneer in dance, but he also represents all the people we encounter in the world who you never know what their story is.

Like there are literally tens of thousands of people who sat across from George at the blackjack table at the Four Queens who never knew they were talking to a man who was a very accomplished dancer, not just good, but dancing among the very best.

-George, when your mother told you you have to be ten times better when moving to America, you have to be ten times better, what did you think?

-Well, I can see why, you know what I mean, because I'm Asian.

So she say, You better be ten times better; otherwise, you'll be nothing, compared to, you know?

And I thought, oh, boy, that's demanding for my mama.

-That's a lot of pressure.

-Yeah.

So I was working hard, though.

-Okay.

What would your mom have thought of this documentary?

-She'd be very, very, very happy.

I know that, because I did all my best.

I put in, and all her work, too, because she did a lot of work to teach me to be perfect.

And she is the one critic.

She is the biggest critic anything is.

You go to the class, watch the class, and they come home and say, You've done this wrong.

You did this wrong.

[laughter] You got to do better.

-So Las Vegas, you end up here because you're now performing in Broadway.

What do you remember about performing in Las Vegas?

-It was exciting when I come here in 1961.

And the whole company from Flower Drum was traveling then.

We come here, and the Four Queens-- I mean, the Thunderbird was so quiet.

I thought, gee, we come into the wrong place.

Next thing we know, when we open up, Thunderbird went up, people come in like crazy [indistinct].

-Oh, I imagine.

-That was nice.

-And then, naturally, as you get older, you can't quite perform as well anymore or as often.

And so that's how you were introduced to blackjack and dealing blackjack?

-Yeah.

-That must have been a hard transition.

What was that like?

-A little bit, because you become too many those days, they have the extra blackjack people.

You got to stand in line.

So they clap you, so you come in, take over the place.

Not like nowadays.

It's a little bit different now.

-How does that-- how did that work?

Are you familiar with that?

-No.

This is news to me.

-So you had to-- they would clap, and then you would come up to the table?

-Yeah.

-Why?

-Well, because they give the regular dealer a break.

-Oh, I see.

-So we're the extra guys.

-I see.

-So that's why we stand in line waiting.

-For your chance?

-Yeah?

A little bit different than nowadays.

-Okay.

-Yeah.

-And up until how long ago, you were still dealing blackjack?

-What, about-- -Last summer.

-Wow!

-Yeah.

-Because you turned 90 just on Tuesday.

-Yeah.

-Happy belated birthday.

-Thank you.

-When people call you a pioneer in dance, do you believe it now?

-Well, to me is the world, but to me is, I know that Jennifer told me, you know, how things is, you know, to be pioneer.

I don't know what's a pioneer.

To me it's like a regular day.

It's working, go home, things like that.

But she say it's a pioneer.

So that's why I learned the lessons.

So I've got a bit better than, you see, ten times better.

And I did my best, I did.

-Thank you, George Lee.

And thank you, Jennifer Lin.

There will be screenings of this continuing, and eventually you're hoping to get this on a streaming platform?

-Yes.

We would like to.

Sometime this year, we will be available to broader audiences.

-Thank you so much for joining Nevada Week.