 After teaching briefly at the University of Connecticut and at Connecticut College, she got a job in 1954 at Rhode Island College in the Department of Health and Physical Education, where she taught folk dance and golf.She also coached the fencing team, a role that prompted her to organize the New England Women’s Intercollegiate Fencing Association, of which she was president for a time.Burrill cofounded the Rhode Island College Dance Company and served as its director (1956–59).