"I was teaching Kinder Ballet, and I squatted down and I heard it go eeewwwhwwh. I'm sure it was because the leg was getting pretty whacky."

After the surgery, she bounced right back.

But the last several years, her gait was off. She was in constant pain. Dr. C. Philip Volk, a Plattsburgh orthopedic surgeon and sports-medicine specialist, told her she had quite a gimp.

"I went to him a couple of years ago. I hesitated. It got to the point I had to do something. I couldn't bear weight on my left leg. I was demonstrating everything on my right leg, which got very strong."

POOL BALLET

Guibord-Stay finally dealt "with this" on Dec. 19, 2007, when she had a full knee replacement. Now, she's rehabbing. Though she's not back to teaching everything, she is teaching all of her ballet classes. She finds her physical-therapy exercises very similar to her dance exercises.

"It makes sense to me."

The knee, she said, is "coming back slowly, much slower than I would like."

By June, she expects to have full range of motion.

"My major rehabbing now is in the pool three or four times a week. I give myself a ballet barre in the pool. It may seem odd.

"I did that with the meniscus tear. I got more stretch. I could do things again I had lost in those two years."

DON'T BE AFRAID

Guibord-Stay looks to the future with a new knee and a new appointment to the Eastern Committee of the Cecchetti USA, an international classical-ballet organization.

If she had to do it over, she would have had the knee replacement earlier.

"In hindsight, I was living in an extreme amount of pain and not acknowledging that. I don't have that pain now."