[2] She saw her first ballet on New Year's Eve 1933, when her mother "dragged" her to a show danced by Colonel de Basil's Ballet Russe de Monte Carlo, which included George Balanchine's Cotillon and Michel Fokine's Les Sylphides, performed by Alexandra Danilova, Tamara Toumanova, Irina Baronova and Tatiana Riabouchinska.
[5] Months later, she danced in the "Preghiera" section of Balanchine's Mozartiana, as well as small roles in Les Songes and Errante.
[2][4]: 85 [6] With the company, Eugene Loring created the double roles of the titular character's mother and dream sweetheart in his Billy the Kid.
Loring also chose her to dance as Columbine in Harlequin and South Sea Lady in Yankee Clipper.
During this period, Balanchine was in Argentina staging Mozart Violin Concerto for Teatro Colón, and wanted her to dance it, as well as the revivals of Apollo and Concietro, but she turned down the offer.
[4]: 141 [5] In 1944, Marie-Jeanne danced with Marquis de Cuevas's Ballet International, where she created a role in André Eglevsky's Colloque Sentimental.
[4]: 152 Between 1945 and 1947, she returned to Ballet Russe de Monte Carlo, when Balanchine was attached to the company.
[6] In 1948, Marie-Jeanne joined Ballet Society, where Balanchine cast her as the First Symph in Bacchus and Ariadne.
[2] In 1953, she briefly returned to the New York City Ballet at Kirstein's invitation, but after two injuries, Balanchine told her, "You'd better go home.
[3][7] In 1967, she began teaching at the Florida-based Joni Messler Studio of Dance and Gainesville Ballet Theatre.
[1] After her husband's death in 1983,[7] she split her time between Gainesville and Spain, before relocating to Texas in the 1990s to live with one of her sons.