She met her future husband and long-time collaborator Roland Petit at the Paris Opera Ballet when they were both aged nine. She danced in 1944 in the "Soirées de la danse" at the Theater Sarah Bernhardt. She became a ballerina of the Nouveau Ballet de Monte Carlo in 1946, and danced during the last season of Colonel de Basil's Ballets Russes de Monte Carlo in London in 1947. From 1949, she became the star of the "Ballets de Paris" directed by Petit, where she was known for her energy and passion. She created her most famous role, Carmen, to a musical arrangement of Bizet's opera. For the role, she had her hair cut to boyish shortness, which was copied by many women. The ballet was premiered in London at the Prince's Theatre in London on 21 February 1949, and the obituary in "The Guardian" noted: "Nothing as sensual as the duets that Petit created for the lovers had been seen on the London stage before." The performance was taken to an extended tour on Broadway, repeated the following season.