when howes was a girl, her parents enrolled her in classes for "fancy dancing" with miss helen webb. there, "dressed in a starched, white, "broderie anglaise" frock, with a blue satin sash round [her] very ample middle," she was taught bow to walk gracefully, how to shake hands, and how to curtsey to her elders and betters. incidentally, she was also taught little dances for student recitals. she received more substantial dance training from helen white, an assistant at webb's studio who had studied abroad with the italian maestro enrico cecchetti. by her, howes was thoroughly schooled in the fundamentals of ballet technique. in 1922, at age fourteen, she became one of the first pupils of the hershel girls school, but in 1925, after seeing a performance by anna pavlova's company at the old opera house in cape town, she decided on ballet as her chosen career.