As a child, she often performed at her parents' "Veyetcherinkas": Russian cultural arts nights in their home, with her brother Eugene (who later became a New York Philharmonic violist) and her sister Rita (later Zweig).
[citation needed] As a young dancer, Lee (then still Becker) appeared as the character Anybodys in the original 1957[1] production of West Side Story;[2] indeed, the role was created for her by Jerome Robbins.
Through this process, American Dance Machine saved the choreography of Agnes De Mille, Jack Cole, Joe Layton, Michael Kidd, Ron Field, Bob Fosse, Onna White and Peter Gennaro.
Featured dancers and guest artists included Janet Eilber, Carol Estey, Harold Cromer, Liza Gennaro, Patti Mariano, Nancy Chismar, Randy Skinner and Donald Young.
Her class, which relied on dancers' previous and significant ballet training, was divided into decades by day: Mondays 1950s (think West Side Story), Tuesdays 1960s, and so on.