Phyllis Spira

Phyllis Spira (18 October 1943 – 11 March 2008) was a South African ballet dancer who started out with England’s Royal Ballet. After coming back to South Africa, she served as prima ballerina of CAPAB Ballet in Cape Town for twenty-eight years. In 1984, she became the first—and so far the only—South African to be named Prima Ballerina Assoluta.

Spira was born in Johannesburg, the first daughter and second child of Lazar and Fanny Pauline (Rosen) Spira, working-class parents living in a modest home in the suburb of Orange Grove. She began ballet classes at age four and showed early talent. After a Hebrew nursery school, she attended Orange Grove Primary School and Waverly High School for Girls, where ballet and eisteddfod training were extracurriculars. At fifteen, her headmistress, recognizing her exceptional ability, got official permission for her to leave school after tenth grade to focus on dance. Soon after, she was offered a spot at the Royal Ballet School in London. Her parents worried about their teenage daughter living alone in a big foreign city, but they let her go.

Arriving in London in May 1959, Spira started training at the Royal Ballet School at sixteen. Her distinctive movement quickly drew notice. Ninette de Valois, the school’s director, called her “a baby Markova,” comparing her to the famous British ballerina Alicia Markova. She earned a scholarship and moved swiftly through the program. Within months, she made her debut in *Swan Lake* at Covent Garden, dancing in the act 1 pas de trois, as a cygnet in acts 2 and 4, and in the Neapolitan Dance in act 3. She was then invited to join the Royal Ballet touring company at age seventeen.

Spira stayed with the Royal Ballet’s touring group for three years, from 1960 to 1963. Promoted to soloist in 1961, she performed across the English provinces, continental Europe, Scandinavia, the Middle East, and the Far East, with occasional TV appearances in England and Japan. Her roles included the pas de trois in Frederick Ashton’s *Les Rendezvous* and Kenneth MacMillan’s *Danses Concertantes*, the title role in John Cranko’s *Pineapple Poll*, and Phyllis in Alan Carter’s *Toccata*, a part created for her in 1962. She had a promising future, but homesickness led her to return to South Africa in 1964.

In 1963, the South African government had set up four professional ballet companies, one per province. The two strongest were PACT Ballet in Johannesburg and CAPAB Ballet in Cape Town. Back in her hometown, Spira joined PACT Ballet under Faith de Villiers soon after its formation. During her short time there, she danced leading roles in *Swan Lake*, *Giselle*, *Sylvia*, and *Casse Noisette*. A salary dispute prompted her and her frequent partner Gary Burne to defect to the Cape Town company.

Spira and Burne joined CAPAB Ballet as principal dancers in 1965. They left briefly in 1967–1968 to dance with the National Ballet of Canada in Toronto, directed by Celia Franca. After touring North America, they returned to South Africa at the end of 1968 and rejoined CAPAB Ballet. They performed as a popular duo until Burne left the company in 1971. Spira then partnered with Eduard Greyling for about seventeen years, until she retired from the stage.

Her repertory was broad, ranging from lyrical works like *Les Sylphides* to dramatic ones like *Romeo and Juliet* to technically demanding pieces like *Don Quixote*. Her musicality, theatrical intelligence, and sense of humor let her handle very different roles with skill. She danced the Betrayed Girl in de Valois’s *The Rake’s Progress*, the Young Girl in Ashton’s *The Two Pigeons*, and the title role in Bournonville’s *La Sylphide* staged by Hans Brenaa. Burne choreographed several works for her, including *The Doves* (1966) to music by Aram Khachaturian and *The Birthday of the Infanta* (1971) to Harry Partch’s music. David Poole also created roles for her and, as artistic director, cast her in many others. Besides classical ballet, Spira was a gifted Spanish dancer, appearing in Marina Keet’s productions of *The Three-Cornered Hat* (1966) and *Fiesta Manchega* (1973). In 1971, she danced Salome in *John the Baptist* by Veronica Paeper, and in 1976, she took the title role in *Judith* by Alfred Rodrigues.

Comparisons to Alicia Markova persisted. Peter Williams of *Dance and Dancers* wrote that Spira “looked uncannily like Markova as well as having a flavor of Fonteyn, but with an approach of her own.” A *New York Times* writer described her as “reed-thin and tiny, with huge eyes dominating a gamine face” and noted she shared with Markova “a classical purity of line and delicacy of style wedded to a steely technique.” She led the Cape Town company until 1988, when an injury on the opening night of a new *Giselle* ended her dance career.

Spira received many honors.