Karsavina created the title role in "The Firebird", the Ballerina in "Petrushka", and The Young Girl in "Le Spectre de la Rose". After she settled in Hampstead, London, she began teaching ballet professionally. She assisted in setting up The Royal Ballet, and was a founding member of the Royal Academy of Dance. Her pupils included Dame Alicia Markova and Dame Margot Fonteyn. She wrote two books: the autobiography "Theatre Street" (1930) and the dance textbook "Classical Ballet: the flow of movement" (1962).