Growing Through Arts® Retailer: Swan Dancewear

Like professional football players and basketball players, a professional dancer’s career is often short.

That’s why Marla Kaine, 37, who danced professionally with the Sarasota Ballet, Atlanta Ballet and Pennsylvania Ballet, knew she needed to find another career that she could do as she got older.

At age 20, she began teaching dance as a side career, and today, she continues to teach at Dance Xpress and the Chester Valley Dance Academy six times a week.

However, even teaching can be physically demanding, so at age 35, Kaine took on a new challenge of opening Swan Dancewear, a dancewear retail store in Narberth, PA.

Swan Dancewear caters to dancers of all ages, from 2 to 92, and features everything from pointe shoes and ballet dancewear to clothes and accessories for gymnastics, yoga, hip-hop and lyrical.

Kaine also carries the Ballet Series of books and toys from Growing Through Arts®, and she says one of the most popular items is the Ballet Series Alphabet Set, which has letters illustrated to explain dance terms. “As soon as you open it up and show them the letters, they love it,” she says.

As someone who interacts with pre-school age dancers all the time, Kaine says the Growing Through Arts® books and toys are a wonderful way of teaching young dancers about what a real ballet on stage is like.

“I talk to my classes about it all the time,” she says. “Why are we here? We’re going to take what we learn in class and take it onto the stage.”

Kaine says many of her students have never seen a live ballet performance before, and the Growing Through Arts® books help open up that world for them. “As they get older, I want them to understand… the art aspect of it,” she says.

Kaine says the books and toys have been popular among parents and grandparents looking to find the perfect gift for their ballet-obsessed child around the holidays, back-to-school or recital time. This year, one nearby dance school is performing Sleeping Beauty for their spring performance, and Kaine says she thinks many of the Sleeping Beauty items will be flying off the shelves.

Although she is no longer dancing professionally, Kaine says she enjoys sharing her dance expertise with her customers and passing on her love of dance to a younger generation. “I like helping them find what they need so they can be happier dancing,” she says. “It’s a great way to stay part of the dance world in a different way.”