Her parents, Barbara Sandonato and the late Alexei Yudenich, were both principal dancers with PAB in the '60s. They met, danced, fell in love and married. In fact, her mother was the first dancer hired in 1962 by founder Barbara Weisberger, a disciple of George Balanchine.

This weekend, Weisberger will be among the guests, along with many former principal dancers and current dancers at PAB, at Yudenich's wedding in Philadelphia, when she marries fellow corps member Thomas Baltrushunas.

To sit a foot away from Yudenich, 22, is to see a classically featured dancer who onstage can project a woman of the world and a ballerina. "My mom let me make my own decisions, but she made sure I knew what it would take to be a ballerina," she says and describes a "little flame" in her that keeps her going at the worst moments. "Then when you get to perform, it's a fire."

HOW TO IMPRESS YOUR FUTURE MOTHER-IN-LAW: Pennsylvania Ballet corps member Thomas Baltrushunas dips fianceé Gabriella Yudenich to the delight of her mother, Barbara Sandonato, herself a former PAB dancer. : Michael T. Regan

Sandonato spoke about her start as the first PAB ballerina. She was a student at New York City Ballet's school and hoping for one of two spots opening in that company, but "Mr. Balanchine was decentralizing ballet and I was asked to join the new company in Philadelphia and it was an opportunity I thought I should take," she says.

"I had to do 32 fouettes in a room alone—with Mr. Balanchine counting them out," she says. Sandonato confirms all the legends about Balanchine's mercurial presence. "You never got out of the room without bowing and backing out," she says.

Sandonato was also picked by Balanchine to teach a class at the new company and later she was summoned again, this time to demonstrate her teaching method. She thought she was terrible because she just copied her class instruction from teachers at NYCB, but Balanchine liked her style and told her, "It's not about choreography. You have to tune them like the strings on different violins. That's the gift and you have the eye for it."

One of those violins was her daughter, who at age 7 was taking ballet class at the Rock School. "My mom told me, "If I didn't see something in you when you were little, I would have told you not to be a dancer,'" Yudenich recalls.

Before coming to the U.S., Alexei Yudenich, who died of cancer at age 46, trained with the Sarajevo Opera Ballet and wanted his two children to be doctors or lawyers. "He thought the life of a dancer was hard and short," says his daughter.

At 10, Yudenich thought she wanted to be a veterinarian, even though she was already immersed in the world of ballet. "I had all of these physical things I had to work and when your body isn't naturally perfect for it, it's much harder."

Yudenich was in a class taught by her mother, who recalls a particularly anxious moment. "Gabby leaves the barre and runs to the center of the room to dance," says Sandonato. "All of the girls froze and she gets back in line and they were all looking at me to see what I was going to do. When I was reprimanding her in the car on the way home, she told me she couldn't help herself."

At 15, Yudenich was on full scholarship at NYCB's School of American Ballet, but never felt comfortable there and was overwhelmed by the city. At 17, she decided to come back to Philadelphia and was the first dancer picked for PAB II, their student professional company, under director and former principal dancer William DeGregory.

Yudenich's natural flair for character roles landed her a feature role in Christopher Wheeldon's Swan Lake last year, where she performed the czardas gypsy dance. Her mother told her since her father was Russian, it was in her bones to do it right. "I always get calm when she watches me. I feel like I can do it no matter what," says Yudenich. "My friends get nervous, but I love what she has to say even if it's not good."

Back in March, Gabriella was dividing her time between rehearsals for Balanchine's A Midsummer Night's Dream, understudying the meaty role of Hippolyta while fitting in preparations for her wedding. As befitting a danseur and a groom, Baltrushunas has stayed calm as a mere player in the proceedings. Last month, he may have been sweating out rehearsals for Matt Neenan's 11:11 but not his upcoming nuptials. "I met Gabby when we were attending the summer dance program in New York when I was 17 and she was 16," he says. "Then when she came here I recognized her. We hit it off after that and I asked her on a date. We went to see My Big Fat Greek Wedding."

"The one chance we got to dance together was in Taming of the Shrew," Baltrushunas says, "but in rehearsal the night before opening we were doing this crazy group scene and someone swung Gabby and she collided with another dancer. She was out for the rest of the show because of a concussion. But we'll get other chances."

Accidents aside, the bride has already made plans. "We should be together onstage because he's a good height for me," she observes.