Max's mother, the American-born Ms. Kepler, was an army brat whose family settled in Texas. The Joffrey Ballet school in New York gave her a scholarship when she was 15. She moved to New York by herself, dancing at the school from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. In 1984, she moved to Berlin and met a muscular, handsome Polish dancer named Marek Rozycki. An elite dancer and amateur soccer player, he had defected from Poland when martial law was declared two years before. They married and raised two children on theater and music.

As a child, Max liked the sword fights in "Romeo and Juliet" and the evil bat-like creature in "Swan Lake," and took music lessons—but he preferred baseball, soccer and tennis. His parents accepted his passion–on the condition he dedicate himself the same way they had to ballet. Berlin gives dancers 52-week contracts so they can work at their craft every day.

Yet when his troupe, Morphoses/The Wheeldon Company, appeared Friday at Central Park's Summerstage, the program suggested that Wheeldon is as susceptible as others to the lure of "crossover" marketing. The show aimed at pop music fans, as much as at balletomanes.

The evening featured the premiere of "Tears of St. Lawrence," a finely crafted but unconvincing collaboration between Wheeldon and singer/songwriter Martha Wainwright, who supplied an original score. Wheeldon also collaborated with fellow dance maker Edwaard Liang, with peculiar results. The joint author of "Tears," Liang received sole credit for the vibrant dance quintet "Bleeding All Over You," part of an introductory suite of dances made to Wainwright songs.

That's one of the things that makes Miami Youth Ballet so attractive to aspiring dancers from all over Miami-Dade County.

Former principal dancers Yanis Pikieris and his wife, Marielena Mencia, started Miami Youth Ballet three years ago to get their students ready to work at professional ballet and dance companies.It is a preprofessional program that is separate from the Mencia-Pikieris School of Dance in Palmetto Bay.

Escalante was executive director of Ballet Florida in West Palm Beach., which went under in July. In the 1990s he was human resources manager and development manager for Miami City Ballet and, before that, associate director of finance for New York City Ballet.

The current economic climate and the cost of performing at Bass Hall were the main reasons the company is pulling out of its productions there, said Frank Hill, ballet board president.

Hill said the company would explore additional cost-cutting measures such as shortening the dancers' yearly contracts.