InMemoriam- Continued frompage 24.
bras and her outpouring of love for the art of ballet. To break students’ tension and fear, she helped the young dancers feel their dancing through story telling in theirmovements and creative use ofmimewith music. Lilia didn’twant to intimidate the students by her own natural clarity, line and elegance. She said, “If I teach patience and practice, practice, practice,when they growup, theywill be using that in dance and in life.”
As co-artistic directors and co-owners of theDentonBalletAcademy, they not onlymaintained the awardwinning production of The Nutcracker but added their own St. Petersburg-influenced style. They encouraged establishing the JoffreyDallas summer intensive at Texas Woman’sUniversity inDenton.
Pictured: LiliaValieva
into bed for aweek, but Liliawas that strong. Yet it set themto think about retiring,which they did in 1998. Transitioning to a teaching careerwas smooth andwithout regrets.With their rigorousVaganova schooling augmented by experienceswith other influential pedagogical styles, and years performing classical and contemporary roles, they had an enormous legacy to share.
In 2011, Lilia andEldarmoved toDenton to take overHughNini’s DentonBalletAcademy and direct the FestivalBallet ofNorth Texas. Fromday one, the students fell in lovewith the elegant andwarm- hearted Lilia. Shewas their idol yet an open, approachable teaching artistwho embraced everyone equallywith encouraging yet specific cri- tique deepened by a vision of dancing fromones
heart.Most important to herwas the dancer’s attention to details of footwork, a lengthened spine, and the right style. Lilia often spoke through her graceful port de
All too soon this fairy tale romancewith dance and their 30 yearmar- riage ended onDecember 28,when Lilia passed away peacefully sur- rounded byEldar, Samat and her family.Even in her last days, she con- tinued to teach and introduced last year’sNutcracker productionwith a sadness free radiant smile in high heels. They had facedmuch over their 20 years of touring and starring inmany ballets, so they faced each day together. For over two years, the twoworked as one, hoping and praying for healing.WroteHughNini on the company’smemorial page: “Rarely in life arewe blessedwith a person like Lilia. You could not help but love her.” Today,Eldar continues their legacy and carries her spirit in his heart.Her beautiful spiritwill forever be a part of the DentonBalletAcademy’s teaching.His partingwordswere “She left an important and lasting legacy in theworld of ballet, and especially here in theDenton, Texas dance community.”
by Janice LaPointe-Crump With gratitude toEldarValiev for speakingwithme about this beautifulwoman who had somuchmore to share and to LucindaBreeding,DentonRecord ChronicleArts editor,whose stories formthe foundation of thismemorial.
page 26
May-July 2015
www.thedancecouncil.org
DANCE!NORTHTEXAS a publicationof the dance council ofnorthtexas vol 18 •no 2
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