Last bow for Phyllis Spira
2008-03-11 23:29
Amanda Botha and Wayne Muller
Cape Town - Internationally acclaimed ballet dancer Phyllis Spira died at the age of 64 at Kingsbury Hospital on Tuesday afternoon.
After a foot injury in August last year in London, she underwent a series of operations on both legs.
Spira and her husband Philip Boyd, director of the company, Dance for All, had been accompanying the company's dancers, who were performing in London, when she injured her foot.
She underwent another emergency operation at the weekend after complications arose from a blood clot which had formed in her leg.
Spurned international career
She did not regain consciousness after the operation.
Spira was the only South African dancer to carry the title of Prima Ballerina Assoluta.
In 1964, she turned down an international career to join the Cape Performing Arts Board (Capab) of those days.
Spira refused an invitation to dance with the legendary Rudolph Nureyev because she wanted only to be a full-time dancer in South Africa.
Her dance career ended in 1988 after an injury on the opening night of Giselle.
Praise
In the foreword of Spira's biography by Amanda Botha, Phyllis Spira - A Tribute, Dame Margot Fonteyn praised Spira as a ballet dancer "who eminently enchanted her audience".
Dance critic and writer Rachelle Greeff said, "Her whole life was in the service of dance. And her dance was as close to sublime as we'll ever get in this country."
"Defying nature she burned herself out so that we, in our soft seats, could take of her without limit and thus transform ourselves. That we could relive the tale and rise above our flat-footed paths.
"After the footlights were switched off for her, she open-heartedly and relentlessly poured her knowledge and experience out in places where ballet was an unknown luxury."