Born in Inverness, Nova Scotia, White began taking dance lessons at the age of twelve, and eventually her studies took her to the famed San Francisco Ballet Company. Her first Broadway performance was in Finian's Rainbow in 1947. Her next assignment was Guys and Dolls, in which she both performed and assisted the choreographer, Michael Kidd, beginning an association that lasted through various productions until, in 1956, she choreographed her first Broadway show, Carmen Jones.
She married actor Larry Douglas in 1948; they divorced in 1959.
The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences awarded White a special Oscar for her work on Oliver! (1968), only one of two ever presented for choreography.
