There she studied dance, again with Abreu, and theatre with Alves da Cunha and Maria Matos, as well as taking private violin lessons from Gonçalves Pereira.

She finished her course at the Conservatory with a high score and then passed the entrance audition at the D. Maria II National Theatre, which entitled her to be granted a Professional Actress/Dancer Licence.

Sena immediately showed herself to be one of the CIC's most promising members, starting by joining the corps de ballet and then dancing solo roles.

After a quick period of convalescence, Sena married Fernando Lima, and began dancing again alongside him in Vasco Morgado's "musical super-fantasy", "Melodies of Lisbon" and, later, in the "Ballet-Concerto" group that debuted on 29 November 1955.

Then, with the group "Dances and Songs of Portugal – Portuguese Ballets", she performed in the Cine-Teatro Monumental, Lisbon, at the Casino Estoril and then on a European tour.

[1][4][5] After returning from abroad, she participated in a revue at the Monumental, in 1956, and in two plays, starring Laura Alves and Artur Semedo, again working for the impresario Vasco Morgado.

On 7 March 1957, Sena and Lima participated in the first official television broadcast of Radiotelevisão Portuguesa (RTP), performing the ballet Os Enganos do Amor (The Deceptions of Love), with music by Tchaikovsky.

[1][4][5] When the Grupo Experimental de Ballet (GEB) was formed, Sena participated, as a choreographer, in its first show in May 1961 in Porto in Pastorale by Igor Stravinsky, which was also performed in Aveiro, Lisbon, Guimarães and Viseu.

In 1961-62 she choreographed works by 19 Portuguese poets, including Fernando Pessoa, Cesário Verde, Herberto Helder, Mário de Sá-Carneiro, Bernardim Ribeiro, Camilo Pessanha, and Sebastião da Gama.

Sena then embarked on another project, alongside Norman Dixon, former ballet master and choreographer at GEB, in a show entitled "Homage to William Shakespeare".

[1][4][5] In 1967 Sena returned to the former GEB, then renamed as the Gulbenkian Ballet Group (GGB), under the direction of Walter Gore, to recreate O Crime da Aldeia Velha for two shows at the Tivoli.

The following year she was responsible for the choreography of Tempos Modernos (Modern Times) at the Politeama, and "Concerto" (with music by Chopin), at the Gulbenkian Foundation's Grand Auditorium.

[1][6] After the Japanese experience, Sena started to collaborate regularly, both as an actress and choreographer, with the Teatro Experimental de Cascais (TEC), particularly in productions by Carlos Avilez.