Van Hamel graduated from the school and was promoted straight into the
National Ballet of Canada as a
soloist in 1963. She has credited
Celia Franca, the
Artistic Director, as being an important influence and coach during her development as a ballet dancer. In an interview with Rose Eichenbaum, Van Hamel said, "I think there is a small window in your career when you have some control." She danced variations from
Marius Petipa's
La Bayadère,
Kenneth MacMillan's
Solitaire,
Antony Tudor's
Dark Elegies, and the
pas de deux from
Le Corsaire with
Earl Kraul. She was welcomed back to Canada with a
ticker-tape parade. In 1970, van Hamel was offered a position in the
corps de ballet at
American Ballet Theatre, one of the three leading classical
ballet companies in the United States. She was quickly promoted to soloist in 1971 and then to principal dancer in 1973. Diane Burns, the dance critic for the
Orlando Sentinel, has called van Hamel the "American Ballet Theatre prima ballerina and one of the most formidable female dancers to emerge from the dance boom of the 1970s and early '80s." At tall, van Hamel is difficult to partner because on
pointe she is taller than many of her leading male counterparts. Van Hamel was the recipient of the 1976
Cue Magazine award for outstanding dancer. On 21 March 1983, she was the recipient of the
Dance Magazine award alongside fellow recipients
John Neumeier, director of the
Hamburg Ballet;
Michael Smuin, a director of the
San Francisco Ballet; and Jeannot Cerrone, general manager of the
Houston Ballet. The awards were presented by
Francis Ford Coppola,
Erik Bruhn,
Leonard Bernstein and
Jerome Robbins. Van Hamel served as the Artistic Director and McKenzie as the Associate Artistic Director and choreographer. During the ABT off-season, van Hamel, McKenzie, and other ABT dancers toured and performed with the New Amsterdam Ballet all over the world. The company continued to operate before closing in September 2013. In July 1989, van Hamel, Terry Orr, and
Savion Glover received awards from
Dance Educators of America for their work as dance teachers. Van Hamel has been a guest choreographer for companies such as
The Washington Ballet,
Milwaukee Ballet and the
Royal Winnipeg Ballet. After twenty years, she left ABT in 1991 and joined the
Nederlands Dans Theater III. There van Hamel has been the Program Director of Extreme Ballet, a three-week intensive training program, since its inception in 1991. In 1992,
Washington College presented her with the Award for Excellence for her contributions in the arts. Van Hamel left Nederlands Dans Theater III in 1997 and worked as choreographer and director. ==Personal life==