"When I first came to Denishawn I was teaching children. They did not think I would ever perform because I wasn't beautiful. I was not blond and I did not have curly hair. These were the Denishawn ideals. At twenty-two they thought I was good enough to be a teacher, but not a dancer. They saw nothing of a performer in me. But since I photographed well and had impact, they used a picture of me as a temple dancer in their brochure.

Miss Ruth had her own room which was green and had many green curtains. We all lived together in the Denishawn house. Even though I was not allowed to dance, I secretly did. One night I went quietly down the steps from my room to Miss Ruth's studio. It must have been around two o'clock in the morning because it was pitch dark and the house was completely still. I was in the darkness, dancing and practicing alone. Charles Weidman, who would come to partner me here and at the Neighborhood Playhouse in New York, and would found his own company with Doris Humphrey, reminded me of this years later. He came downstairs and found me dancing but he said nothing then. I was doing my own movements, trying to find strange, beautiful movements of my own. I would dance and rehearse in absolute darkness until dawn. When the time came for me to dance I would be ready".