Together with Anna Sokolow, Alicia Markova, Anton Dolin and Michel Descombey, she belongs to the great precursors of modern Mexican dance.

Her father, an engraver, and her mother, a pianist, greatly encouraged Waldeen to explore the arts from a young age.

[4] She spent the better part of her youth training under Theodore Kosloff in Los Angeles, where he recognized her talent early and invited her to tour with his ballet company.

At this time she had also an affair with Bodo Uhse and lived together with him, before he married Alma Agee.

[8] Waldeen married Rodolfo Valencia, a theater director, and was invited by the revolutionary government of Cuba, where she stood from 1962 to 1965.