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Like many of the low-income, often high-risk students at St. Jose3eph's, Thelma Macias has a troubled and complicated past. As a young child, she and her brother, Oscar, were caught in a protracted custody battle. Twice her father fled with them to…

Marco Aguilera, 16, is confused and worries about the future, whether to stay in school or drop out and find a job. He fears sometimes that his life will end, as it began, in Santa Ana, a city that has come to symbolize danger and poverty.

As a young child, Marco Aguilera used to intervene in frequent, violent confrontations between his parents. Once, the back of his head struck a wall so hard that it caused permanent damage. A visible, occasionally painful bump remains. Recently the…

Marco Aguilera's apartment complex in central Santa Ana is one of the city's most dangerous neighborhoods. He's had more than a dozen bikes stolen,, once he was cut on the arm an forced to give up his bike at knife point.

Like so many of the other dancers, Marco Aguilera, center, escapes his bleak environment by hanging around the ballet. Between practices on a typical Saturday at the ballet, he plays cards with the other dancers.

Marco Aguilera acknowledges that he is sliding lately, slipping down a slope that each time gets harder to scale again. Since January he has missed more than 40 days of classes at Century High School and was recently suspended for three days for…

Left, Yusivi Sandoval and Marco Aguilera rehearse 'dreamCHILD' choreographed by Burns, to be performed this week. 'dreamCHILD,' this year's major new work, revolves around a group of dreamers confronting and finally gaining control over their fears.

During class, Beth Burns, founder of St. Joseph's Ballet, invests herself emotionally, she teaches and praises and pushes the teenagers to work harder and reach higher in all areas of lives.

Alicia Luna, 14, has survived a childhood marked by fathers death. Domestic violence and a taste of gang life. 'The ballet has changed me,' she says, teaching her self-expression and more.

Her father, Juan Carlos Manuel Luna, a heroin user and gang member, sent her letters from San Quentin prison until his death in 1990. She cherishes these elaborately illustrated cards, on which he drew low rider cards and signed them 'With love, your…