Anya was born in Johannesburg and started dancing at the age of 5 with Sandra Carstens, completing her training at the National School of the Arts. In 1993 Anya was the runner-up in the Adeline Geneè Competition in S.A. and also competed in the London finals. She was a semi-finalist and a finalist in the Sanlam International Ballet Competition that same year.

In 1994, Anya joined the PACT Ballet as an aspirant and rose to the ranks of a senior soloist.

In 1999 she guested in Durban, dancing the lead in Nutcracker and in 2000 she guested with the Royal Danish Ballet, dancing a soloist role in Napoli. Anya was nominated for a FNB Vita Award for her role in ‘La Fille mal Gardee’. She danced the lead in the Malan/ / MacDonald / Beukes December 2000 production of ‘The Nutcracker’ and contined her dancing career with The South African Ballet Theatre as a Principal Dancer.

Her roles with SABT have included the title role in ‘Giselle’, ‘Michaela’ and ‘Paquita’, in ‘Carmen’, Odette/ Odile in ‘Swan Lake’, the Sugar Plum Fairy and the Snow Queen in ‘The Nutcracker’, Swanhilda in ‘Coppélia’, Juliet in ‘Romeo and Juliet’, the ‘Flower Festival at Genzano’ pas de deux and ‘Napoli Act III’ for the Royal Danish Ballet collaboration, the title role in ‘Papillon’, Ophelia in Kenneth Greve’s ‘Hamlet’, Aurora in ‘The Sleeping Beauty’, the title role in ‘Cinderella’, one of the Principal Ladies in ‘Who Cares’ (produced by Elsye Borne of the Balanchine Trust), Principal Lady in ‘Conservatoire’(produced by Peter Bo Bendixen of the Royal Danish Ballet) the ‘Lady in the Moon’ in ‘Rock-a-Tutu’ and Mercedes in ‘Don Quixote’.