An early enthusiasm for dance history led Rhonda Ryman to ballet training and the stage. Following French language studies at the University of Toronto and York University she enrolled in the York University Program in Dance where she completed graduate studies in kinesiology and dance notation. She is an Associate Professor at the University of Waterloo where she taught dance for 20 years.
Ryman's interest in the various "schools" of ballet technique initiated an intense ten year period of research into the complex and specialized language and terminology used to identify the ballet dancer's body movements.