Anna Beatrice Jordan, or Beattie Jordan, as she was commonly known, was born in Lindisfarne, Tasmania in 1897 to Frederick and Mary-Ann Jordan. Beattie began dancing at the age of nine, at the Stacey School of Dancing in Hobart. In her teens she was a member of the Jordenes, an entertainment troupe of acrobats, gymnasts and singers. At the age of 20 she opened her own school, at the old Masonic Hall in Murray Street. After the visits of Anna Pavlova in 1926 and 1929 she was inspired to study classical ballet technique and she trained in Melbourne during the 1930s. She then spent the next 42 years running her own dance studio in The Continental in Macquarie Street, working as a dancing teacher. ;;"Auntie Beat' as she was affectionately known, retired in 1959 and focussed her time on charity work. She died in 1988 after spending many years in a nursing home. She married twice - at aged 63 to William Irwin until his death and then to Jim (J.B.) Waldie in 1988.