LOGAN – A new era of leadership is now underway at the Cache Valley Civic Ballet.
“After starting the Cache Valley Civic Ballet more than 40 years ago,” announced Sandy Emile in a statement released July 23, “I am now moving into retirement with a new title of Founding Director.”
The new artistic director of the CVCC will be Jaime Lindley, who will fulfill those duties with an assist from Executive Director Emily Buckley and members of the organization’s board of directors, according to Emile.
The statement explained that Lindley has played an integral role in the development and evolution of the CVCC over the past four decades.
Founded in 1982, the CVCC now consists of about 45 auditioned dancers from throughout northern Utah. The Cache Valley Civic Ballet school, which was founded in 1986, also provides training to a corps of more then 400 students annually.
Prior to moving to the Logan area in 1981, Emile had graduated from the North Carolina School of the Arts and then apprenticed at the American Ballet Theatre. She was accredited in the Cecchetti and Vaganova schools of ballets and in the Paris Opera Ballet syllabus.
Shortly after arriving here, Emile visited the Whittier Community Center, discovering that the city had a newly renovated dance studio sitting empty and a grant to produce Peter and the Wolf with no one qualified to direct the show.
The rest, as they say, is history.
From just 16 dancers who auditioned for that original show, the CVCC has grown into a cultural asset that has staged the Christmas favorite The Nutcracker for the past 40 years along with full-length story ballets each spring.
“I look forward to the Cache Valley Civic Ballet’s future,” Emile said after announcing her retirement, “offering quality performing and educational opportunities in ballet to our community.”
Members of the CVCC’s board of directors echoed that sentiment, thanking Emile for founding and nurturing an organization that has become a cherished part of the local arts community and welcoming Lindley’s experience and passion to her new leadership role.
The CVCC is based in the Whittier Community Center at 290 North, 400 East in Logan.