Other figures who emerged from Horton's school and company include actress Lelia Goldoni and Sondra Kerr Blake. The founder of the Mattachine Society, Harry Hay, had a daughter who took classes at the dance theater. Janet Collins, a twenty year old ballet student (who would go on to be the first African American dancer to perform full-time with the Metropolitan Opera in New York) was one of the students approached by Horton to perform in exchange for free classes. Collins enthusiastically agreed, and yet admitted to Horton that she knew "nothing about modern dance." Horton told her not to worry—he would teach her.