Dancer to Dancer Applause Assures a Proper Fit

Having danced since the age of three, Manager Melissa Kessler knows instinctively what should adorn a dancer’s body. So running the dancewear store her mother started 15 years ago is, in an almost literal way, a natural fit.

Kessler, 32, has been working in the store she now manages since it opened in its original Garden City location in 1996. Her mother, Theresa Derocchis, still owns the business and Kessler carries on as manager as her mother did. Though the enterprise outgrew its first location and moved to its current spot on Hillside Avenue in New Hyde Park in 2001, her operation still centers around personal service. Kessler is a dancer selling dancewear to other dancers, person-to-person.

“I guess my mom instilled in me kind of an old-school way of doing business,” Kessler said as she sat behind a prim wooden desk in the back of the store, framed by stacks of dance shoes in boxes. “It’s about people just walking into the store and having a great experience.”

The store is full of clothing and shoes associated with a variety of dance styles: ballet, tap, jazz, hip hop, ballroom and pointe – the specialized form of ballet that requires dancers to ply the floor seemingly weightlessly on the tips of their toes. Applause Dancewear also stocks clothing for cheerleading, ice skating and a popular modern form of aerobics called . Inside the store, dance shoes and leotards form chorus lines on the walls; bunches of brightly colored tutus hang from the ceiling. The dressing rooms are decorated with pink-striped wallpaper and small crystal chandeliers.

Over the past three decades Kessler herself has studied or participated in nearly all the dance forms represented by the items she stocks and she says it's her personal experience that gives her the insight into what fits best on whom.

“Being a dancer my whole life and working here, I’ve worked closely with manufacturers to make sure the shoes and clothing fit properly,” she said. “It starts with the shoes. Like with pointe shoes, you can really damage your foot if the shoe doesn’t fit correctly.”

Her philosophy applies to anyone she might hire to work in the store, from the temporary salespeople she brings on for her busy seasons to the only other full-time employee Applause Dancewear has ever had -- assistant manager Lauren Coffey, 24, a dancer and dance teacher who, like Kessler, has been involved with various forms of the art since she was three.

Kessler balances her time in the store with raising her own two young children and improving the business’s website, which has eaten up a decent amount of her time, though she said online sales aren’t her main focus. Being able to shop online is helpful because there are simply too many products on the market for any one store to keep them all on the shelves, but Kessler said buying highly-specialized dancewear on the internet won’t ever trump being able to walk into a store, try things on and talk to a dancer who can speak from experience about what works and what doesn’t.

Plus, as a small-business owner herself, she’s always rooting for the locals. 

“We’re very big into small businesses being what make this country what it is, so we always encourage people to support their local businesses before buying online,” Kessler said.

She tries to set the example on a national scale buy dealing preferably with manufacturers within the United States.

While her business hasn’t been immune to the effects of today’s limping economy, Kessler said dancing and putting clothes and shoes on people who dance is a line of work that survives even the worst of times.

“People who are into the arts are really into the arts,” Kessler said. “Dancing is always going to be an outlet for people, and it’s always going to be an interest for people.”

By Kessler’s way of thinking, dancewear is a business with strong legs.