Penticton teenager Aleksander Filipovic is stepping into the shoes of The Nutcracker.

The timeless tale is retold each year by Mission Dance Company, when it gets performed throughout the valley during the holidays.

Filipovic, who is 16, worked on the show for the past three years. He said it feels like a dream come true to have been cast as the Nutcracker.

“When I was little and I started dance, I always loved ballet, and I remember always watching it with my grandmother -- I was just astounded by the dancers on stage and I thought, ‘I could be there one day.’”

Filipovic loves how The Nutcracker, by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky in 1892, has great characters and gives directors opportunities to tweak it.

“We make it our own, we make it a little more upbeat and funny in some ways,” he said

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