As Miami Youth Ballet celebrates its 25th anniversary season, its founders Marielena Mencia and Yanis Pikieris continue to feed Miami’s young artists with their history, experience, and passion. Marielena, born in Cuba and raised in Miami, danced across the world’s stages with her husband, Yanis, who shared in her passion for dance and began his choreographic explorations on the two of them. Their interview is rich with entertaining stories from when they met, which international city they felt at home in, the repertoire they loved the most, and why they returned to Miami. We know you will enjoy hearing more about how Yanis and Marielena individually found dance, each other, and what highlights from their world-renown careers they share with their students today.