During its developmental years, the first pupils to join the Denishawn school played a large role in building it up from the ground, and have even been described as "foundation stones of the system that was to spread over the country". This group included Margaret Loomis, Addie Munn, Helen Eisner, Florine Goodman, Aileen Flaven, Florence Andrews (who danced under the name Florence O'Denishawn, Sadie Vanderhoff, Carol Dempster, Ada Forman, Claire Niles, Chula Monzon, and Yvonne Sinnard. The majority of these original dancers were related to close acquaintances of St.Denis and Shawn. Another well known student and employee of the Denishawn school was Pearl Wheeler. She was primarily the costumer for the school but also took classes and appeared in performances alongside the other dancers.