13-year-old dancer from Lake Elmo lands lead role in Radio City Music Hall holiday show

ST. PAUL, Minn. (FOX 9) - For the last 11 years, Savannah Manzel has studied dance at the Larkin Dance Studio in Maplewood.

But soon her dancing skills will take center stage on one of the world's most famous stages.

"It's kind of nerve-wracking sometimes, but it's also really amazing and cool because I've never danced on such a big stage before," said Manzel.

Manzel has been dancing since she was 2 years old and has made a name for herself through her dedication and hard work.

None other than Jennifer Lopez sang Manzel's praises as a judge on the TV show World Of Dance, where Manzel made it to the semifinals three years ago.

"I learned so many new things, and I got to meet so many new people and it was just really cool to watch other people dance, and they're all super amazing," said Manzel.

Now Manzel has been cast to play Clara in the Nutcracker Suite segment of the Christmas Spectacular starring the Radio City Rockettes.

She'll head to New York at the end of the week, where she'll perform in two shows a day during the holiday season, sharing the stage with the world's most famous chorus line.

"It's just really amazing to think about that. I'm going to be dancing with them because they're just really cool people and they're amazing dancers," said Manzel.

"It's so rare. So they picked three dancers out of hundreds of thousands of auditions. So just the opportunity is amazing," said Manzel's ballet teacher Julia Morrison.

Manzel says she is ready for the spotlight and she hopes her star turn will give her a leg up in the future.

"I've never done this kind of experience before, so it'll be really fun to see what it's like," said Manzel.