[3] Starting at age twelve, she attended summer intensives at the School of American Ballet in New York.
[4] Nichols had created several roles for Jerome Robbins, starting with the 1978 Verdi Variations, which would become "Spring" in The Four Seasons.
Other notable Robbins ballet she originated roles in include Piano Pieces, I'm Old Fashioned, Antique Epigraphs and Rondo.
[10] Following an unusually long 33-year career, Nichols retired from the New York City Ballet in 2007, shortly before she turned 49.
[3][8] Nichols started teaching at the Princeton Ballet School whilst an active dancer,[3] and continued to do so after she retired.
[12] In 2017, she left to join the faculty of Indiana University Jacobs School of Music as Violette Verdy and Kathy Ziliak Anderson Chair in Ballet and professor of music in ballet, succeeding Violette Verdy, who died the previous year.
[9] Nichols is married to David Gray, who worked at the New York City Ballet press office.