There, she would recreate herself as a model, an actress, perhaps, or a chic cosmopolitan in that chicest of cities. But, as Shipman tells us, "the only dependable source of income available to her was pleasing men for money." But then a circus gave her a job, and the owner advised her where her talents lay - dancing. And dance she did. From the depths of her experiences in the East Indies she invented what she called "sacred dances".