Diane Geragotelis slipped off her boots and padded across the studio floor in her socks. She stopped in front of a picture hanging on the wall of young smiling dancers, perfectly poised in their matching ballet costumes. She pointed to the kids one by one and recalled the latest news she’d heard from each of them.

She said some were in their last years of college, others were studying nursing and some were pregnant and expecting their first or second child. Geragotelis could only claim one of the girls as a biological daughter, but it was obvious that she had motherly love for every individual. When her eyes left the photograph, her concentration turned to the bar mounted on the wall to her right at waist height. She grabbed ahold of it and gracefully swung her leg into the air above her head despite the fact that she was wearing fitted blue jeans.

This is the wonder of Oak Harbor’s Diane Geragotelis: The owner of the Ballet Slipper, the mistress of dance and the inspiration of driven ballerinas.

Geragotelis began dancing when she was 10 years old and lived in the California Bay Area. She studied dance at two of the area’s prestigious institutions until she was 20. After marrying a military man, she spent the next 10 years traveling from place to place around the country. Because of her frequent moves, Geragotelis found it difficult to enroll in formal dance classes and spent most of her time practicing on her own. When she settled in Oak Harbor, she wanted to put down roots and get back to what she loved full-time. Though there were already multiple dance studios in the city, Geragotelis decided to start one of her own.

“Ballet was in my blood,” she said. “That’s what I wanted to do.”

In 1991, she opened the Ballet Slipper on Midway Boulevard. Though Geragotelis started with no students and lacked advertising, within a few months she had 30 dancers and within a year she had too many to fit into her small rented space. She moved into a bigger location on Goldie Road where she was given a section of a large warehouse shared with other tenants. Geragotelis ran her studio there for more than 18 years but when one of the other tenants was busted for methamphetamine use, everyone was kicked out. Geragotelis said the experience was heartbreaking. Officials had to swab her handmade costumes for contamination and much of her stuff was destroyed.

This August she moved to her current location on Technical Drive which served as a repair shop for semi trucks before Geragotelis arrived.

“We had a dream and it required a lot of vision,” she said.

Despite the moves, Geragotelis maintained a devoted, large group of students. She teaches children as young as 4 and sees many of them through their late teens and early 20s.

“These are my kids,” she said. “You get so connected to their lives.”

And it’s obvious the dancers develop a strong admiration and relationship with Geragotelis, deemed Miss Diane. Oak Harbor mom River Powers said her 12-year-old daughter Mara, who’s been with the studio eight years, hangs on Miss Diane’s every word and frequently tries to mimic her.

“Whatever Miss Diane says is gospel truth,” Powers said. She said ballet is Mara’s passion and that she hopes to take over the studio someday. Powers said that before this December’s rehearsals of “The Nutcracker” were even over, the girls were excitedly discussing preparing for the spring performance of “The Wizard of Oz.”

Geragotelis’ classes are at capacity right now and she has a waiting list of about 60 people. Her popularity may have something to do with her teaching philosophy. Geragotelis is strictly devoted to classical ballet, and the students seem to respect her for it. She begins teaching the correct names for moves when dancers are as young as four. She said many teachers teach the younger children silly phrases, like instructing them to make a piece of pie or a diamond with their feet for first position, but she uses correct terminology.

“I don’t go that route,” she said. “Why dummy it down?”

Additionally, Geragotelis has gained support because of her decision to prioritize ballet over profit. Unlike many other studios, Geragotelis doesn’t charge students to participate in performances and pays for every prop and costume, which she makes herself, with money out of her own pocket. Additionally, Geragotelis usually only breaks even on her consistently sold-out shows, but keeps putting them on for the love of her craft.

“I treasure every moment that I’m here,” Geragotelis said as she sat against a studio wall. “This is like therapy to me, it’s truly who I am.”