[3] When she was fifteen, she auditioned for the American Ballet Theatre's school when the company was touring in California.
[2][3] She made her company debut as a page in a one-act version of The Sleeping Beauty, and was often cast by choreographers Twyla Tharp and Glen Tetley.
[4] In 1977, she volunteered to assist Mikhail Baryshnikov, the artistic director of the company, to choreograph his version of Don Quixote.
[3][4] The following year, she substituted principal dancers Martine van Hamel and Cynthia Gregory in Don Quixote as Kitri, to positive reviews, and was promoted to soloist.
[5] In 1980, when Natalia Makarova staged her version of La Bayadère, Harvey was chosen to dance the role of Gamzatti at the premiere.
[1] After her retirement from dancing, Harvey started working as a guest ballet mistress and teacher.
In 2008, she assisted in a restaging of The Sleeping Beauty for the Norwegian National Ballet, then returned to the company the following year to make her production of Giselle.
[16] In 2015, she staged the "Kingdom of the Shades" scene from La Bayadère for the Royal Ballet of Flanders, as well as a production of Don Quixote for Singapore Dance Theatre.
[15] She was also a standard assessor for The Council for Dance Education and Training before she stepped down in 2010, and a coach at Prix de Lausanne.
[17] She continues to teach, coach and stage ballets, and became a consultant for To the Pointe, a British arts management company.