She also played the doomed ballet dancer Laurian Summers in the 1983 cult horror film Curtains with John Vernon and Samantha Eggar.
[3] In her time with the National she choreographed some of its most distinguished pieces of the 1970s, including Mad Shadows and Kisses, while also heading side company Ballet Revue.
Sensing a natural flair for dancing in his daughter, Ditchburn's father began enrolling her in private lessons with Janet Baldwin, who helped her attain her a role in her first major ballet when she was 11, as "Gold" in a 1961 production of Hungarian.
Ditchburn resigned from the company because, as stated in the October 1979 issue of Cinema Canada, she felt that "my life isn't going anywhere fast enough," choosing instead to pursue a career as a film actress, as well as freelance choreography.
Other issues revolving around her resignation were creative differences with Alexander Grant, as well as complaints about insufficient facilities and a general low morale though the company.
For her television and film career, Ditchburn first worked on variety shows, including choreography for the Irish-Canadian band Ryan's Fancy[6] on a 1973 episode of Singalong Jubilee,[7] while her first on-screen appearance was on a December 1976 episode of the Peter Gzowski talk show 90 Minutes Live, where she performed a ballet routine with pianist Andre Gagnon.
In an interview with producer and director Peter Simpson, he stated that "You know, it's a very obvious omission but we should have had more bits of stuff... even short scenes with Anne to pay off her death.