For years, the poster on the dressing room wall of Elisabeth Graetzer's ballet school reminded students of what Graetzer knew in every sinew of her lithe body: "To live is to dance, to dance is to live."

Graetzer -- elegant, exacting and energetic -- danced through most of her life. From the time she was a young girl learning to face the barre to the founding of her Falls Church ballet school, Graetzer reveled in movement.