Slight streaks of gray peek through Glenna Krebs' auburn hair. And she wobbles slightly as she paces through the Bel Air Middle School gym. In her left hand, she effortlessly spins a baton as she scrutinizes the seven girls performing a new routine.
Through her thick, gold-colored glasses, the teacher looks displeased.
"If you drop the baton, you have to practice 10 times," barks the 72-year-old.
For almost half a century, Krebs has taught generations of baton twirlers how to toss, strut and roll.
At the Harford County Parks and Recreation baton classes, Krebs expects nothing but crisp motions from her 68 students during the four-hour practice. Showing her relentless and competitive energy, she claps and counts beats and yells instructions.
"She sets high expectations," said Rachel Occhion, a 14-year-old baton-twirling student. "The way she teaches is very different."
Although Krebs can be seen pacing and shouting instructions, she is not always stern and demanding. Ms. Glenna - as her students call her - makes practice fun by holding spinning competitions and pizza parties after a long session. When one of her beginners finally catches the baton, she lets out an enthusiastic yelp and hugs her.
But three weeks into a new class, batons are still flying in different directions, bouncing off the ground, and the girls scamper to catch them.
Krebs sighs as she watches, but presses on. Pushing play on her tape cassette, the music - Connie Francis' 1962 hit "Vacation" - begins.
Once the music starts blaring (V-A-C-A-T-I-O-N in the summer sun!), she starts instructing her students.
"Wiggle! Wiggle! Wiggle!" she shouts as the routine begins.
The girls bobble their heads, spinning their batons with stage smiles stretched on their faces.
"Move your head!" she yells.
After tearing a rotator cuff, Krebs no longer hurls the stick in the air like she once did. She's slowly regaining her dexterity after surgery in May.
"My age affects what I can do with the baton," she said. "I can twirl and do finger work. ... I don't try splits anymore or a lot of the spins."
But so far, twirling has helped her health. When Krebs went to a hospital earlier this year, the doctor glanced at her charts and thought her birthday was a typing error.
"He actually said to me, `You can't be that old,'" the Manchester resident said. "Later he was telling me, `Whatever you're doing, keep on doing it. It's keeping you healthy.'"
