Ballet legend attacked
2004-09-13 12:34
Cape Town - South Africa's best known ballerina had a close call with robbers outside a dance hall in Guguletu.
Phyllis Spira, 61, former principal dancer for Capab Ballet and a Royal Ballet soloist, suffered a knife wound to her hand after two teenagers attacked her outside the Masikhanyi Community Centre in Guguletu.
Spira and her husband, Philip Boyd, also a former principal dancer with Capab, run a community project called Dance For All in the hall.
The project gives disadvantaged children the opportunity to receive ballet tuition.
Spira and some visitors arrived at the hall on Friday at 13:00 to see the show by a visiting dance group from Ethiopia.
They were confronted by two teenagers armed with knives, who demanded the women's handbags.
Spira dropped her handbag, but one of the robbers nevertheless attacked her, stabbing her in the hand.
The robbers ran off with two handbags.
Spira had to get medical attention for her hand, but the attack did not stop her from going back to the centre - apparently she was back in class the next day to teach her dance students.
- Die Burger