Amelia was the third charter member of The New Dance Group of Canada, preceded by Barry Smith and Ricardo Abreut. Keith Urban, Kenny Pearl, Donald Himes, Merle Salsberg, and Kevin McGarrigle followed. 

The first season was 10 months long, and the dancers earned $10 weekly. Debut performances featured guest artists Peter Randazzo and David Earle, choreographies by Beatty and Randazzo and Heritage by guest choreographer Cynthia Barrett. 

Patricia Beatty: “I was advised to “Do it now, in two years you’ll be too scared!” So we had our first concert two years after I arrived back in Toronto – five men, four women – and people came. People were curious. The curtain opened and there were the three of us (Randazzo, Beatty and Earle) in a trio of Pete’s. There was painting, jazz, a funny mix of cultural energy here. We weren’t avant-gaarde, oh no, please. No one knew how to label us, which I loved. We were upstarts. We were formal. Modern.”