From the age of 11, she was trained in theatre and ballet at the Italia Conti Academy where she studied under the pioneering modern dancer Margaret Morris.
[1] In 1921, on Morris's recommendation, she was engaged by Rutland Boughton to stage dances and choruses for the Glastonbury Festival, some of which he incorporated in his opera The Immortal Hour.
From 1924, she arranged dances for the productions of Sybil Thorndike and Lewis Casson, including The Cenci and Henry VIII, and also associated with Nigel Playfair, the manager of the Lyric Theatre, Hammersmith.
[1] Her choreography was influenced by avant-garde artists including Oliver Messel and Lord Berners who composed the music for her successful dance, "Funeral March for the Death of a Rich Aunt" in 1924.
In 1927, Constant Lambert, who like Spencer had been influenced by the American black dancing group, The Blackbirds, composed the music for her "Elegiac Blues" (1927), inspired by the death of their star, Florence Mills.