Dora Babbige changed her name to Dora Dean and got her professional start when she joined Sam T Jack’s Creole show in 1889 as a chorus girl when they approached her. This company was extremely innovative for the time due to the influences of the show’s producers who were two white entrepreneurs. These men put a completely different spin on vaudeville shows by allowing beautiful black women to join the show at a time when men would play those parts. At that time chorus girls had to be a triple threat: able to dance, able to sing, and able to remember lines for skits. She was recruited to play a statue girl, due to her statuesque figure. Her initial job was to strike dramatic poses and look pretty.    

They also completely eliminated the use of blackface in any of the skits, as well as the traditional plantation life theme that was popular amongst minstrel shows. Their company dealt with themes related to a combination of burlesque and minstrel influences. Instead the performers dressed “neat” and participated in dance numbers with partners of the opposite sex. Dora Dean’s partner was Charles Johnson who was the show’s star performer. He could play the banjo, but his real talent was his dancing. Neither Dora nor Charles could sing very well, so they’re performances included something a little less conventional. Instead of singing the songs they talked the words.  Their skits and songs were usually either funny or uplifting in some way.The couple was known for always being elegantly  dressed in evening formal attire during and definetly after they left the creole show. They were said to be the first man and women of any race to perform in such elegant attire on stage. This is another way they were able to break the traditional minstrel show mold where the black performers wore tattered rags for clothing,instead they were able to exude respectability and class. Dean and Johnson fell in love while dancing together  and they were married in 1893.   Dora was one of the first African American women to be allowed in a show , like this. However, this was just the beginning for her.