One Boston Celtics dancer, a student of famed choreographer Mikhail Baryshnikov and a European dance company troupe member.

They are among the thousands of students that Wareham’s Sandra Baker, 73, has taught to pirouette and plie (among many other moves) over the past 50 years. Last weekend, Baker’s friends, family and former and current students celebrated her milestone.

Her business, the Buzzards Bay-based Baker School of Dance, held its annual recital Saturday and Sunday which included a surprise routine from former students of all ages in her honor.

Stephanie Stabile, of Rhode Island, returned to perform on Saturday.

A recent graduate of the Massachusetts Maritime Academy, Stabile said Baker’s studio offered her a break from the school’s tight regiment. With her degree in marine safety and environmental protection, Stabile now works on a NOAA ship, but she said she took time off for “Mrs. B.”

“I had to come back and perform my solo to say ‘thank you,’” Stabile said. “She made my time at Mass Maritime so much more enjoyable.”

Seeing Stabile backstage before the show, Baker returned the compliment.

“And [Stabile] was an inspiration to my younger kids,” Baker said. “She would be so dedicated to doing all of her school work and then work so hard in dance class.”

Even though the Baker School of Dance celebrated its 50th anniversary, this is actually Baker’s 54th year of teaching dance.

She started very young. When she was 4 years old Baker’s mother enrolled her and her sister in classes in Waterbury, Connecticut. That teacher often scolded Baker’s sister for being shy; however, and their mother pulled them out of class.

Baker didn’t stay away from dance for long.

“About a year later, I decided to run away from home and go back to dance school,” Baker said. “I got quite a ways away - even reaching a highway. So, my mother decided to put me in another dance school.”

At the age of 10, Baker started assisting fellow dance teachers, and at 12 she was leading her own classes.

After moving to Wareham, Baker and her husband settled down and started a family. Her five children have all helped her run the studio or put on the recital in some way.

Lisa Baker-Simmons, Baker’s daughter, serves as the business’s co-director. She started dancing at the studio as a child.

“It was just a given all of us would dance with her,” she said.

In high school, Baker-Simmons said she decided not to pursue a career in dance after hearing from guidance counselors.

“I was told by my counselors there’s no such thing as a dance major at college, and I believed them,” she said.

It was advice she eventually ignored, transferring to a different college two years later and enrolling as a dance major.

“My mom, by doing this thing, brought up five kids and led me towards a great career,” Baker-Simmons said. “It’s always allowed me to be creative.”

Baker-Simmons' daughter, Cherie Blier, was also in attendance for the recital. A member of the Boston Celtics inaugural dance team in 2006, she said Saturday marked her first time back on stage in nine years.

“I had to celebrate my grandmother’s fiftieth year of teaching dance,” said Blier, who started competing as a 6-year-old in New York City. Now a personal trainer and culinary nutritionist, she credited her grandmother for instilling a love of dance not only in her, but countless others.

“I definitely have to thank my grandmother who motivated me and others,” she said. “To be 73 years old and still participate in the kick line with us – it’s crazy.”

As Baker has done for the past 50 years, she took the stage and kicked her heels high with her students at the end of the recital.

And she said she has no plans on stopping soon.

“I’ll participate as long as I can,” Baker said. “At 73, it gets a little hard.”