Mrs. Long began her dance studies as a scholarship student with Bentley Stone and Walter Camryn. Her continuing studies over the years included classes with many well-known teachers including Valentina Pereyaslavec, Felia Doubrovska, Bill Griffith, Leon Danielian, Patricia Wilde, Melissa Hayden and Richard Thomas. Because of her lifetime connection to Ruth Page, Mrs. Long has been associated with the world’s greatest dancers, choreographers, producers and designers.  

Mrs. Long’s professional career began as a teen with the Lyric Opera of Chicago. She started in the Corps de Ballet and left as a Principal Dancer. She appeared in the Lyric’s production of Prince Igor as the Polevetsian Maiden with Rudolph Nureyev and has danced principal roles with every Ruth Page company from 1954 to 1973, including all principal roles in The Merry Widow, Carmen, Die Fledermaus, Carmina Burana and Bolero. Mrs. Long met her future husband, Larry Long, while a member of the Ruth Page Company. Mrs. Long joined the National Ballet of Washington, D.C. where Frederic Franklin was Artistic Director. She had the opportunity to dance many Balanchine ballets and performed such classics as Giselle, Coppelia, Pas de Quatre, Les Sylphides and The Nutcracker. She also danced in the unique and magnificent Chicago Tribune production of The Nutcracker as the American Beauty Rose and Sugar Plum Fairy for many years. 

Upon her retirement, Mrs. Long became ballet mistress for the company and was instrumental in the choice of the new design for the production in 1990 by José Varona. Additionally, Mrs. Long danced in summer stock theatres, including the Starlight Theater in Kansas City and the St. Louis Muni Opera Company. She appeared on The Ed Sullivan Show, CBS Repertory Workshop, Great Music from Chicago, at the Chez Paree Night Club and at Harrah’s Club in Lake Tahoe with Liberace. Mrs. Long taught at the Interlochen Music Camp, the University of Kansas, The University of Tulsa and the International Ballet of London. With her celebrated husband of 47 years, Mrs. Long helped co-found the Ruth Page Foundation School of Dance, where she and Mr. Long taught for over 38 years and where together, they created the Civic Ballet of Chicago in 1998.