Irmgard Bartenieff viewed dance as a way to study cultures, beginning at an early age when she learned German folk dances. When she came to the United States, she used her love for folk dances while working with children at a camp in Western Massachusetts, Camp Konkapot. Later in life, she expanded her studies to include the dance of the Pacific (Hawaii, Polynesia, etc) and Tai Chi Chuan. She often taught at the University of Manoa in Hawaii, working with students from many cultures who learned about Bartenieff and Laban's theories in relation to their dance styles.  Throughout her career, she not only described ethnic dance styles verbally, but also captured elements of the dances through Labanotation, as this example shows.