Tina Ramirez: 19(?)(?)—: Dancer, Choreographer, Educator

Ramirez's dream to make a career out of performing became a reality when she took on her first professional experience with the Federico Rey Dance Company. World War II was raging and there were not many Spanish dancers available at the time, so Rey toured the studios looking for talent. He saw Ramirez perform and liked her, so he asked her to join his concert group, which included three dancers, a guitar-ist, and a pianist. Ramirez spent two years with the group, touring the United States, Canada, and Cuba, and quickly established her reputation as a Spanish dancer.

She went on to study with Luisa Pericet in Spain, staying with a friend's family in Madrid. She also spent much of her time there touring the country with a gypsy group. Upon her return to the United States, after two years in Spain, her professional contacts had virtually forgotten her, so she had to effectively start over again performing at supper clubs. She teamed with her sister, Coco, doing an act at El Chico, a very exclusive supper club in New York's Greenwich Village, where she was discovered by Xavier Cugat. A very famous Spanish bandleader, Cugat went there to check out another dance team, but he liked the Ramirez sisters and invited them to audition. They joined Cugat and toured the United States for about two years. He invited them to accompany him on tour in Asia, but they were establishing a name for themselves by that point and Ramirez wasn't ready to leave that behind. So they started working on their own as "Tina and Coco" at supper clubs all over the United States and Cuba.

Around this time Ramirez also made an appearance in the Spoleto Festival of Two Worlds with John Butler. On Broadway, she performed in the short-lived 1957 production of Copper and Brass, and productions of Kismet and Lute Song. She also appeared in the first television adaptation of Man of La Mancha.