Beryl Eugenia McBurnie OBE (2 November 1913 – 30 March 2000)[1] was a Trinidadian dancer, who also performed as La Belle Rosette.

She established the Little Carib Theatre in Woodbrook, Port of Spain, and promoted the culture and arts of Trinidad and Tobago as her life's work.

In her teens, she decided to focus on promoting "the emotions of the folk, and which in some cases gave an insight into the history and the way of life of the ordinary people.

She instead decided to pursue her dream career in folk-dance after touring the country with Trinidad's leading folklorist, Andrew Carr.

In 1938, when Katherine Dunham arrived in New York from Chicago, McBurnie taught her privately the rhythms and dances of the West Indies.

Primus, like Katherine Dunham, studied West Indian dance from McBurnie and joined the group, which appeared at various venues in New York.

She was booked to perform at "coffee concerts" at the Museum of Modern Art by philanthropist Louise Crane, then a young theatrical agent.

In June 1942 McBurnie replaced Carmen Miranda in the hit Broadway musical revue Sons o' Fun at the Winter Garden Theatre.

A review of her performance in the People voice of New York, a reporter wrote “Belle Rosette the talented Trinidadian performer scheduled to take Carmen Miranda’s role in the hit show Son O’Fun...amply proved to an enthusiastic audience at the Y.M.H.A on Sunday evening, that she has ‘what it takes’-in the Broadway parlance.

[8] McBurnie left the United States in 1945 at the height of her popularity in New York to become a dance instructor with the Trinidad and Tobago government's Education Department in 1945.

[10] In 1976, the University of the West Indies conferred on her the honorary degree of Doctor of Laws and in America in 1978 she was honoured along with Katharine Dunham and Pearl Primus at the Twentieth Anniversary Gala of the Alvin Ailey Theater.