By KATY PARRENT

The Cumberland County Playhouse is both proud and saddened to announce a “farewell reception” and the appointment of Dance Directors Eldar Valiev and Lilia Valieva as Artistic Directors of the Festival Ballet of North Central Texas, and that 22-year old professional company’s training programs. The reception was on Sunday, July 17, from 2-4pm at the CCP Gazebo.

Russian-born Eldar and Lilia, proud American citizens naturalized in Tennessee,  have served the Playhouse and its community of families for 13 years, first as Ballet Master and Mistress, and then as Directors of Dance Education.  Trained at the Vaganova Academy of Russia’s famed Kirov Ballet in St. Petersburg, the couple also danced with Icelandic Ballet and South Carolina Ballet, prior to moving to Tennessee to join the Playhouse education staff.  “Eldar and Lilia have brought our community the world’s finest ballet training,” stated Education Committee chair Lisa Harrison, and we’ve seen their students advance to top-rank college dance programs, to major scholarship support, and to performing and teaching jobs in Tennessee and across the country.”  Playhouse Producer Jim Crabtree added, “We will miss them, but they and their instructors have set a benchmark for training which we intend to maintain, as CCP’s Education Committee and management explores several excellent and exciting options for new program leadership. We wish them well.”

Playhouse dance classes, which had tentatively been slated to return in late August, will now be deferred to an opening on September 12. “We are challenged to recruit teaching artists of comparable stature,” added Mrs. Harrison, whose husband Rob is immediate past Chair of the Playhouse Board of Directors, “but proud that an important American dance company has reached out to rural Tennessee and the Playhouse to find its future leadership.”  The Harrison daughters Grace and Katherine are very active in Playhouse education programs and youth projects.  The Committee includes Regina Villaruz (three children in Playhouse programs), Suzanne Banegas (teen sons Isaiah and Malachi, plus daughter Darbi): Carol Ann Chadwell and daughter Aven, an SMHS and Playhouse graduate who is entering her junior year as an art history major and dance minor at Belmont University and her third year studying at the School of Nashville Ballet; and Sherri Crain, whose daughters Jensen and Alli are veterans of many CCP classes and productions. ”Eldar and Lilia have inspired us,” said Mrs. Chadwell, “and we’re excited to be planning and recruiting for a great new era in dance, musical theater, and growth for young people and adults  through the Playhouse’s strong and affordable programs.”

To receive Playhouse education program updates, details, schedules, and general information, please contact Meka Doxtator, Assistant to the Producer, at 931-484 4324, or [email protected]