Costume Companies

Costume Companies List

Here is a list of some of the more popular costume companies. I have only listed the companies that I have worked with in the past.

Costume Gallery- http://www.costumegallery.net/ (great selection, decent prices, good quality)

Star Styled- http://www.starstyled.com/ (good quality, nice ballet costumes)

Curtain Call- http://www.curtaincallcostumes.com/ (good quality) Curtain call costumes now come in great bags, hanging or with a handle, that make distribution of costumes to students so easy!

Cicci- http://www.ciccidance.com/ (nice ballet costumes & tutus)

Weissmans- http://www.weissmanscostumes.com/ (good costume & dancewear selection)

Kelle Company- http://www.kellecompany.com/ (costume are pricey)

Artstone- http://www.artstonecostumes.com/ (nice costumes but more expensive)

Leos- http://www.leosdancewear.com/ (good selection)

Liberts- http://www.liberts.com/ (my favorite company for dance shoes & tights, awesome prices & service)

Wolff Fording- http://www.dancecostume.com/ (nice costume, nice ballet costumes)

A Wish Come True- http://www.awishcometrue.com/ (good quality)

Dansco- http://www.dansco.com/ (always a nice selection, reasonable prices)

Fina- http://www.finacostumes.com/ (just ok)

Designworks- http://www.designworksrecital.com/ (good character costumes, convenient set up of their catalog)

Baums- http://www.baumsdancewear.com/ (good for props & accessories)

Lebos- http://www.lebos.com/ (decent costumes)

Poll Result- Reducing Costume Costs During Hard Economic Times

Poll Result

The December 2008 poll question was, "Are you reducing recital costume costs this year, due to families tightened budgets because of the economy?"

28% said "yes," they were taking steps to try to reduce the costs of this years recital costumes.

71% said "no," they are not reducing recital costume costs.

Favorite Costume Companies

My Favorite Costume Companies

This is a list of my favorite dance recital costume companies. I have had good experiences with these companies and have been satisfied with the products and costumer service. My favorite company that I deal with the most is Liberts. Ordering is fast and simple and the deliveries arrive very quickly. Their costume choices are basic, but there is plenty to choose from and lots of mix and match pieces. There is also plenty of good quality dancewear to choose from. Costume and dance wear prices are very reasonable. Most of all, Liberts has a great dance shoe selection with the best prices that I have found anywhere. They carry the major brands of dance shoes, such as capezio, danskin, and bloch. Although, they make their own Liberts brand of dance shoes that have wonderful quality and fantastic prices. Be sure to try out the Liberts dance shoes, they are great. I have also been really impressed by their dance tights. Once again, they sell the major brands of tights, like Capezio, but they produce a Liberts brand of tights. The Liberts tights come in quite a few different styles and offer many color choices. The Liberts tights are priced so low and the quality is awesome. The other costume companies that I have used and been happy with the costumes and service are Costume Gallery, Dansco, Weissman's, Wolff Fording, and Leo's. Art Stone also has great costumes, but the prices are more. Discount Dancewear is a great catalog that a lot of dancers and teachers get in the mail often. They offer a large selection of dancewear and dance shoes and the quality is good. The Discount Dancewear now offers more of a selection of dance dresses and performance wear, as well as some cheer apparel. Remember though, that if you use apparel from this company, that parents can have access to this catalog. So, don't charge a huge markup. All other major costume companies are very particular about only dance teachers receiving access to their catalogs. The Leo's company is also awesome, because within their costume catalog and website they list several music selections to go along with each costume. How convenient is that?

www.liberts.com

www.costumegallery.net

www.dansco.com

www.weissmans.com

www.dancecostume.com

www.leosdancewear.com

www.artstonecostumes.com

www.discountdance.com

Tights On Top

Wearing Tights Ontop

A lot of us know that you can wear tights over a leotard to dance class. When I was a dance major in college and ran from dance class to academic class and back to dance class, I always slipped the tights over my leotard. Dancers can use this technique for easy costume changes during a performance. At my daughters last dance recital, her first dance required her to wear a black leotard & tights with a glittery tap skort. She wore the blacktights over the leotard, since the skort covered up the waistband of the tights anyway. After coming off stage, she stripped off the skort and black tights to reveal the pink tights that she had on under the black tights and under the leotard. All that was left for her to do was change her skirt, shoes, and hairbow. Super easy!

Never Wear Undies With Tights

Never Wear Undies With Tights

I am hear to inform everyone who has never been told, you do not wear underwear when wearing dance tights. This is for dance class and on stage. Go commando under dance tights. There will be no panty lines and most of all, no undies sneaking out in the line of sight. It's fine and not a big deal. It doesn't feel any different. Always double check, though, that you don't forget any separate dance briefs under costumes that are dresses or skirts. As a dance teacher, you will sometimes get a complaint about this from a parent or student. State the fact that this is a common practice of dancers and not your own made up rule. If there is a student that is absolutely having a major problem with this and won't dance unless wearing underwear, let it go. It is not worth the fight in that situation. If students have their periods, of course tampons are the best option. If young girls haven't mastered the tampon experience yet, pads can be worn just fine inside tights without underwear. It is not noticeable or bothersome at all. Pads can also be trimmed to fit the contour of the crotch of costumes, if need be.

Now, older students going through puberty or past puberty should wear some sort of supportive bra under dance wear and costumes. I wish someone had told me when I was young about the consequences of dancing bra less all those years. Your boobs do get saggy. Don't let students go bra less onstage and let breasts be seen through costumes illuminated by bright lights. Have older dancers wear nude colored body liners to wear under costumes. They are great and come in many different styles.

Costume Quilts

Costume Quilts

What do you do with years worth of costumes that are sitting in a closet. Here is a unique idea. Cut swatches of material from each costume to make a quilt that you could cherish forever. What a keepsake! It would clear closet space and you would visually see those memories more often than a bunch of outfits closed up in storage. A quilt you could use often and you would always be reminded of your dancing days.

Choosing Costumes For Different Body Types

Choosing Costumes For Different Body Types

Please be considerate when choosing costumes. Not all children have the same body type and not all costumes look good on everyone. Choose a costume that will look good on the whole class. I don't know how many times I have watched a dance performance and thought "What were they thinking." For example, don't choose crop tops when you have larger stomachs hanging out and bouncing around. This is distracting for the audience. I can only imagine how the student feels or later will feel. If I was a parent of a child costumed inappropriately, I would feel just awful. So, please choose wisely. Also remember, choosing a costume that is small or shows skin will not inspire a dancer to suddenly become healthier or loose weight. Don't even go there. Choose costumes that hide any trouble areas. Go for dance pants instead of fishnet stockings, go for an A-line top instead of the crop top, dress dancers as partners with one in a dress and one in a tux with tails. I know from experience that when you have some larger students that measure more than the XL size in the costume catalogs that you feel bad for the other students in the class that you are basing their costume around the larger student. In this situation be positive. Look for street clothes off the rack instead of ordering from a company. It sometimes seems that the measuring system in the costume catalogs are not realistic and are geared toward the petite ballerina type. My plea to the costume companys is to add more inches to their costume sizes. A large percentage of the dance studio population are kids that aren't the prima ballerina. Give us costumes that fit the everyday adolescent.

TuTu Care

Keeping Tutus Full & Fluffy

How do you keep costumes with any type of tutu or puffy skirt nice and full and fluffy. Always hang the costume upside down on the hanger. Let gravity keeep it loving nice. When putting the costume on and taking it off, always use your hands to give it that last little fluff. Separate the layers of netting by hand if you need to.

Students Dropping Out Of Recital

When A Student Drops Out Of The Recital

How do you handle when a student drops out after signing up for the recital. If a student drops out after paying the costume deposit but before you order the costume, return the deposit amount. The small amount of money is not worth the bad word of mouth that can be spread by an unhappy parent. If a student drops out after you have ordered the costume, politely inform the parent of the costume consent form rules that you hopefully had them sign. Nicely explain you can not refund or return the costume, since it was already ordered. Although, tell the parent you will make one informative phone call to the company to inquire about a possible cancellation or return. Try a phone call to the company and see what they say. All you can do is try. Sometimes they will graciously let you return or cancel. If you succeed or give a little effort, it will make the leaving parent a little happier and hopefully not leave spreading any bad word of mouth. No matter how annoyed or bothered you feel, always be polite.

Reusable Costumes

Reusable Costumes

To make parents feel better about spending money on dance recital costumes, get practical. Choose nice dancewear that dancers can use again and wear later to dance class. Pick nice colorful leotards, skirts, tights, jazz pants, and such. Jazz up the dance wear with hair accessories, hats, gloves, scarfs, props, or add some bling. Your dancers will still look great and they will be able to get a lot more use out of their outfit. Another benefit is that dancers will have quick, matching outfits when you are asked to perform around your town.

Choosing Costumes

A Different Way Of Choosing Costumes

Are you trying to think of a way to stop parents from complaining about what their child's recital costume looks like or how much it costs? I saw a dance teacher use this technique and I thought it was crazy. Afterwards though, it wasn't a bad idea. After choosing what each class is going to "be" in your recital, choose 3 or 4 costumes choices which you like. About 2 weeks before, post a sign and send a note home with students in inform parents of the day that they are invited to stay at dance class and vote on their child's recital costume. On the scheduled night, invite parents into the dance studio as you tell the students what they will be performing in the recital. Then play the music for everyone and answer any additional questions. While the dancers continue with the rest of their dance class, gather with parents outside and give them a short casual presentation of a few costume choices. By this time all students performing in the recital should have made their enitial costume deposits. Go through each costume choice, explaining the details of the costume. Explain what is included in each costume. Be clear about additional costs over the amount of the deposit for each costume. Usually what will happen is there will be a few parents that will be very into the costume choicing process and others who will not really care. It's surprising, actually, how quick the selection happens. Sometimes there are a few parents who just kind of guide the group into a selection. The purpose to doing costume selection this way is to hopefully stop any future complaining, because they picked it. You chose all selections, so it will be something that you like too. For the parents who didn't show up to vote, then they really can't complain either, if they were informed of the day and time in advance and didn't show up. Another tip is to not show the costume choices directly from the costume catalog with the name of the manufacturer on it. Cut out the picture of the costume from the catalog. Also, parents and most of all students sometimes have wondering eyes to pages of costumes that just aren't for them. It's fine for you and the parents to pick the costume for younger students. It is up for you to decide if you want older students to vote or give options on their costume selection.