The studio manager, assuming that Shearer was a beginner, referred them to Flora Fairbairn, a well-regarded teacher of young dancers starting out.

Three months later, by chance, Legat saw Shearer dance in a private recital and reportedly remarked, "This is no beginner," and accepted her as a pupil.

[2][4] At Legat's studio she met the dancer and choreographer Mona Inglesby,[5] who gave Shearer a part in her new ballet Endymion, presented at an all star matinee at the Cambridge Theatre in 1938.

[2] She joined Mona Inglesby's International Ballet[7] for its 1941 provincial tour and West End season before moving on to Sadler's Wells in 1942.

--> Shearer retired from ballet in 1953, but she continued to act, appearing as Titania in A Midsummer Night's Dream at the 1954 Edinburgh Festival.

The choreographer Gillian Lynne persuaded her to return to ballet in 1987 to play L. S. Lowry's mother in A Simple Man for the BBC.

[17] She has been portrayed by Shannon Davidson in the short film Òran na h-Eala (2022) which explores her life-changing decision to appear in The Red Shoes.