She was recognized by numerous awards for her choreographic work as well as being honored with the Pro Finlandia Medal and as a knight of the Order of the White Rose of Finland.

Because of the family social position, her aspirations were viewed as unacceptable, though her parents did encourage her to study the arts, such as singing, piano and painting.

[1] Gripenberg debuted at the National Theater on 13 November 1911, dancing barefoot to music by Chopin, Gluck, Rachmaninoff, Sibelius and others.

[5] Refusing to take her aunt's suggestion, Gripenberg's choice soon led to other upper-class women such as Irja Hagfors, Hertta Idman, Sara Jankelow, and others to become dancers and still others to enroll their children in her dance classes.

[2] Her partnership with Onni, with whom she performed duets like Bacchanale, Pan and Nymph and Two Gypsies, ended after a tour in the US in 1921, when he chose to remain there to dance.

Some of her most known works were choreographies for Orfeus (1926) based upon Gluck's Orfeo ed Euridice, Stormen (The Tempest, 1929) by Sibelius, The Dybbuk by S. Ansky (1934), and the Topelius and Melartin version of Sleeping Beauty (1937).

[2] Her choreography, influenced by Duncan, took improvisation and developed it into modern dance, changing lyrical visualization into stylized geometric, strong movements.

[1] Musical rhythm, with smooth steps in which the toes were place on the floor and flexed before the heel touched the ground[6] and controlled arms, which added to the overall design of the dance were hallmarks of her style.

[1] She won first prize for her choreography on small-group composition at the 1939 Brussels Concours International de Danse,[1][2] with a 5-women ensemble performing Gossip, Percussion Instrument Étude and Slavery.

As a writer, she published critiques and articles on dance for newspapers and magazines, as well as her autobiography, Rytmin lumoissa (Spellbound by Rhythm, 1950).