Born and raised in New York City to immigrant parents, Segal chose to pursue a professional career in dance against the wishes of her mother who called her a “bummarke” (Yiddish for bum).
[1] She soon became a dance student of the highly regarded Blanche Talmud, and later earned a scholarship with ballet dancer Michael Mordkin.
[4] In 1930 she created her best-known work, Black and White, along with Allison Burroughs which was one of the first interracial dance performances in the United States.
[5] During the Red Scare in the 1950s she was called to testify before the New York state legislature investigating committee regarding her communist ties.
[citation needed] Retiring as a professional dancer in the late 1930s, Segal became a dance teacher and was active for decades at the progressive Jewish Camp Kinderland.