About Recital Costumes

They make your dancer more adorable or handsome than you could ever imagine. They transform your dancer into a performer! Yet, your practical side knows how quickly your dancer grows, and how briefly they may be spotlighted on stage. With this in mind, you might wonder why we order new costumes for every show, and why we can’t store existing costumes for future use. And what the heck do you do with costumes after show time? Well, we’re here to clue you in.

When we are choosing costumes, we consider style, color, texture, and how it will look onstage. We also make a great effort to match each costume to the particular music, genre and style of dance being performed, all while trying to keep costs as low as possible.

We order new costumes for every show for several other, practical reasons:

First, the number and physical size of dancers doing any particular number at each show varies greatly. Second, you wouldn’t want to wear a dress that someone else has sweated in (and we wouldn’t want you to either!), however the cost of cleaning the costumes is high, as are alteration costs. Furthermore, costumes don’t always withstand cleaning well.

Luckily there are many ways to extend the practical life of your costumes, ensuring you get a maximum return on your investment:

• Use them as dress-up for your kids/younger siblings, or give them to younger relatives or friends
• Use them as Halloween costumes (so many ideas…)
• Invite your kids to dress up and put on a show in the living room
• Use them to decorate your little dancer’s room (tutu’s galore here)
• Donate to a local preschool for dress up
• Donate to a dance studio (they may be used for special occasions like camps, parties, etc.)
• Sell them
• If you have a good collection, use them for a dress-up themed birthday party
• Or simply keep them as keepsakes

Have you ever creatively re-purposed a recital costume? Leave a comment for your fellow dance parents!