BravoBrava Personality of the week, internationally acclaimed ballerina Phyllis Spira, recently died at the age of 64 at Kingsbury Hospital in Cape Town. As a tribute, tonight’s broadcast will be devoted to Mixael’s interview with her a year ago.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. 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 when she refused an invitation to dance with the legendary Rudolph Nureyev. She wanted only to be a full-time dancer in South Africa and joined the Cape Performing Arts Board (CAPAB) of those days.
Her dance career ended in 1988 after an injury on the opening night of Giselle.
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".
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