hen she was just a teenager, Gail Willadsen found herself having reconstructive knee surgery for a floating kneecap, after which, a doctor told her she would never be able to dance again. Try telling that to a strong-headed teenager. Today, at 38, Gail Willadsen-Criscione (or "Miss Gail" as she's known by thousands of her dance students) has grown Star Struck Dance Studio from a one-room dance school in Great Kills to an award-winning production that takes her students all around the country to compete for nationally recognized titles.

Even though doctors said her knee wasn't in a condition for her to continue dancing as she had done for most of her life, Miss Gail says hanging up her dancing shoes was not an option. At 18 years old, she had dreams of owning her own studio and sharing her passion with future students. She says she had no intention of going to college after high school; she wanted to teach dance. When the studio she worked at as a teen closed down, she was more motivated than ever to start one of own. So, "on a wing and a prayer" she says, she entered herself in the Miss Staten Island Pageant in 1989. Even though one of the prizes is a $1,000 scholarship, pageant organizers let her compete anyway, knowing full well that if she won, she was going to use the money toward her future career.

Eighteen girls competed in the Miss Staten Island Pageant that year. By the show's end, one of them was crowned. The winner: 18-year-old Gail Willadsen. She said it was the moment that started her career and helped her transition to adulthood. "You mature tremendously. You're at all these lunches with adults," she says. "I wasn't just some 18-year-old kid. I was Miss Staten Island." For a year she represented the borough as the pageant winner, but it was the only pageant she was ever to compete in.

When she passed on the crown in 1990, she finally opened her own studio. Using her prize money and a $5,000 loan from her aunt and uncle (which she promised to pay back if it was the last thing she did), she leased a one-room studio on Hylan Boulevard and Armstrong Avenue and, at 19 years old, Miss Gail was a business owner. She still recalls waiting to get the phone and electricity turned on. Even in 1990, $6,000 didn't go very far. In fact, she says it just about got her a key to the front door and some music. She ran the business alone; she couldn't yet afford staff to teach classes or answer the phone. Not to mention, she was in charge of other people's kids. Despite the mounting stress, she says she enjoyed every minute of it. "At 19 you have energy," she says, recalling the seven-day work weeks.

It wasn't long before Miss Gail outgrew her one room-studio. She later moved her business to Seguine Avenue in Prince's Bay, and just five years ago she was able to purchase her own building for her studio on Arthur Kill Road in Richmond Valley. Her business is a far cry from what it was 20 years ago. She now teaches more than 1,000 students, employs 25 dance teachers (many of whom are former students), and has an award-winning company that has won dance competitions from coast to coast.

Every year, thousands of dancers turn out at one of the Starpower Title Competitions. The organization boasts their National Competitions are the largest talent face-offs in America. For the last two years, Star Struck Dance Studio on Staten Island has earned top honors at the competition-beating out dance teams from all over the U.S., Canada and Puerto Rico-but Gail says that success doesn't come easy. Her dance company, made up of about 150 dancers, starts training in August for the competitions, held in July of the next year. They start out stretching throughout the summer, and by fall, the dancers are training three to four days a week. Gail says that's when she also starts working on music and designing the custom-made costumes.

The company's performance is even too big for their studio. In March, their practices move to a gym to accommodate everyone for three weekends of 16-hour dance days. By July, the dancers pack their bags, dreams and costumes and head to competition.

In 2007, Star Struck won the East Coast Division in Ocean City, Maryland with a jazz/acrobatics act. In 2008, the company headed out West for the bright lights of Las Vegas, where they won their second championship in as many years. "That was the biggest thing ever in Staten Island dance history. It was tremendous for my career," said Gail, "and it was tremendous for the studio." The dancers are already deep into preparation for the 2009 competition; because of the economy, they'll be staying closer to home and heading back to Ocean City where they hope to continue their winning streak.

Despite her accomplishments, Gail says she never sought out any press or advertising for the studio. She's says she's never really needed to, as she's built her business by word-of-mouth. She says 80% of her business is built around her studio dance classes. Unlike her company, which practices to compete, studio dancers take about one class per week from September to June and put on a recital at the end of the dance year. She says the studio classes are the bread and butter of her business, with students training in tap, jazz, ballet, hip hop and acrobatics.

While she says the down economy hasn't put a damper on those high-demand classes, Gail says she also won't be expanding anytime soon, either. "I'm content," Gail says. "How big can you get without losing that personal connection?" She takes pride in the fact that she knows all of her clients personally and typically for a long time. In fact, she starts teaching their children, some as young as 18 months old. "You have no idea what dance does for a child," she says. While she says only about one percent of her students go on to be professional dancers, that minority has still made her proud. She says about nine of her students have gone on to open their own studios. A few students are even dancers for local NBA teams and, every now and then, send their old dance teacher some tickets to the games.

However, being "Miss Gail" is always her second job; number one these days is just being Mom. Gail currently lives in Richmond Valley with her husband of 13 years and her two daughters, Cameryn and Peyton, whom she calls her "mini-muffins." They are both growing up around the studio's dancers and are following in mom's footsteps by participating in some of the classes and competitions.

Gail credits much of her success to the support she received from her family. Her mom has handled the finances for the business since it started. She's also been with "Mr. Gail" (a.k.a. Andrew Criscione) since they were both students at St. Joseph by the Sea High School. "He was there from the beginning," she said. He even chose the name for the studio.

Many of her fans are impressed that her studio is always on the cutting edge of modern dance. She attributes her ability to keep up with the times by going to local conventions, judging competitions around the country where top studios perform and getting input from her choreographers and dance teachers. She says she has to stay on top of the trends because she's going to be doing this as long as she can. "It's what holds me together," she says.

While her career takes her all around to some of the nation's biggest dance arenas in the country, she's never lost her connection to her hometown. She even stays involved with the Miss Staten Island Pageant as a co-producer. Gail's dancers have been performing a number at the pageant every year since the year after she took home her own title twenty years ago. She says she came back to show everyone what she was able to accomplish. While Gail admits that she never expected her childhood dream to get this big, she's certainly not complaining. "Life is good," she says. "We have surpassed any dream of the imagination on this Island as far as a little dance studio goes."

Star Struck Dance Studio

4858 Arthur Kill Rd.

Staten Island, NY 10309

718.948.0593, www.starstruckdanceny.com