Her notable works include Their Eyes Were Watching God: A Dance Adventure in Southern Blues (A Choreodrama), an adaptation of Zora Neal Hurston's novel Their Eyes Were Watching God, as well as productions of why i had to dance, spell #7, and for colored girls who have considered suicide when the rainbow is enuf, with text by Ntozake Shange.

At the age of four, McIntyre began studying ballet under the tutelage of Elaine Gibbs after seeing Janet Collins in the Metropolitan Opera Company's Cleveland production of Aida.

"[1] During her time at Ohio State, the university commissioned her to choreograph for an evening with Lucas Hoving, Doris Humphrey, and Anna Sokolow.

McIntyre cites "a feeling of that time in the Black Arts Movement" as the source of her passion for combining dance and live jazz.

Under the mentorship of Louise Roberts, the director of the Clark Center, McIntyre founded the Harlem studio and company, Sounds in Motion, in 1972.

Upon advice from others, McIntyre began applying for grants in order to fund her project when Sounds in Motion joined the National Endowment for the Arts dance-touring program.

During this time, works by Sounds in Motion included Life's Force (1979), created in collaboration with Ahmed Abdullah while Sounds in Motion was in residency,[1] Take Off From a Forced Landing (1984), which was based on her mother's experiences as an aviator, and a performance in 1986 based on Zora Neal Hurston's 1937 novel, Their Eyes Were Watching God.

The studio was a space where what McIntyre termed "the culture crowd," a label that included not only dancers and musicians, but scholars, activists, and artists from all fields, could gather and engage in furthering movement of Black consciousness.

[2] Many students who studied under McIntyre at the Sound in Motion studio went on to accomplish much in their own right, including Jawole Willa Jo Zollar, founder of Urban Bush Women.

As a freelancer, McIntyre choreographed the Broadway productions of Mule Bone (1991), the original and revival of Paul Robeson (1988 and 1995 respectively), and King Hedley II (2001).