Ballet BC brings back Alberta Ballet’s The Nutcracker to the Queen Elizabeth Theatre from December 28 to 30. Below, find the features that separate it from other renditions. And read about a West Coast dancer who grew up fishing and surfing before he put on ballet slippers for the show here.

1. This rendition moves the action from Germany to turn-of-the-20th-century Russia—one of American opera and ballet costume designer Zack Brown’s favourite eras.

2. The lavish production cost $1.5 million to build and outfit with Fabergé-egg–like opulence when it was created in 2008.

3. The shows here will feature 78 youth dancers from ballet schools all over the Lower Mainland, including some performing as Cossack-uniformed mice.

4. The Calgary-based show requires three tractor-trailers to shuttle it around, mostly in Western Canada.

5. The Vancouver Symphony Orchestra plays Peter Ilich Tchaikovsky’s sparkling score live.