The Tribune

CELEBRATED dancer Virginia Maura died Thursday at age 97 leaving behind a grieving family.

Born in 1914, the Chicago native first landed in the Bahamas in the mid-1930s at age 21 for a dance opportunity and moved permanently after falling in love with a Bahamian.

Mrs Maura had been a dancer since the age of 13 and lost both parents at age 17, but continued with her professional dance career.

She is remembered fondly by her daughter, Liz Roberts, as a giving woman who had “an open door” and a “table full of food” for everyone in her life.

“My mother she arrived here in 1935 in a Pan American seaplane to do the opening of the British Colonial Hotel – she was a dancer,” Mrs Roberts said.

“She met my father, who is a Bahamian, on that plane. I always said she splashed down in these turquoise water. Her favourite colour was always turquoise blue. She said as a child, her favourite colour was turquoise and when she was a dancer she was the first one to dye her toe-shoes and her costumes turquoise blue.”

Mrs Maura would move to the Bahamas after falling in love and marrying Montagu “Montie” Maura whom she met on the Pan-Am flight.

“He was obviously enchanted with her because when he saw her looking out of the window on the seaplane he said: ‘That’s our beautiful island and I would love to show it to you.’ The five days she was here performing, during the day he took her and showed her everything,” Mrs Roberts said.

Mrs Maura began giving dance lessons and holding well-attended recitals while living on the island at places such as the Dundas and Savoy Theatre.

“Featured in one of them was Etienne Dupuch, Jr and his younger brother, Bernard – they were five and six years old at the time,” Mrs Roberts said. “They did a little tap dance routine with tails and top hats. Mom said that it created huge publicity and all the seats were sold out that night.”