In Dancing for Joy, Regina Woody's autobiography, she remembers her adored English teacher Miss Clara Bentley's comments on her plans to be a great writer like Hans Christian Anderson and a great dancer like Anna Pavlova. "I recommend that you do one thing at a time, Regina. One thing at a time," she suggested. Regina decided to become a dancer first and a writer later because you could write when you were old. At that time she thought twenty-five was old! After studying dance in London and then in Paris, Regina in June 1913 won an audition to dance in the Folies Bergere. Mademoiselle Reuche brought her Dana Hall girls to see Regina dance in Paris. Later she danced in the Opera at the Alhambra in Algiers, in Budapest at the Winter Garden, and on Broadway. While waiting for her ankle to heal after a skating accident, Regina studied first aid and auto mechanics so that she could drive an ambulance and give first aid during World War I in France. She fell in love and married her first aid instructor and never did get to drive an ambulance. The birth of her son ended her career as a performing artist, but Regina, with the encouragement of her husband, embarked on a new career in writing. By taking courses in the English novel from the Bread Loaf School of English and many writing courses at New York University and Columbia University, Regina learned how to write. Regina wrote thirteen books, including Dancing for Joy, Dance to a Lonely Tune, A Time to Dance, and The Stars Come Down. Many of her books are in the Alumnae Authors display cabinet in the Helen Temple Cooke Library.

Regina Woody, photograph. Dana Hall Archives, Wellesley, MA.
Woody, Regina Jones. "Time to Write." Dana Hall Bulletin. October 1963: 6-7.

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