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OUR
Story
Enhance Your Dance Moves and Boost Your Confidence with Elegant, Ready-to-Wear Dancewear and Sophisticated Accessories
OUR STORY
Melody Movement Boutique is the premier apparel brand for the global dance community. Our elegant and comfortable practice wear, costumes, accessories, and custom-designed orders beautifully complement dancers who perform cultural and folkloric styles from around the world.
We’ve made it our mission to make exquisitely designed, comfortable dancewear accessible to dancers worldwide, regardless of their clothing size or budget.
For far too long, MENAHT dancers only had two options when buying gear for their performances and classes. They could buy cheaply made costumes that required alterations and reinforcements. Or, they could spend hundreds of dollars on expensive custom-made pieces to avoid altering their costumes.
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Our boutique fills the void left in the industry by offering beautiful, ready-to-wear dancewear at affordable prices. Thanks to our founder’s connections with the best dancewear manufacturers, we can bring beautiful designs to our customers around the globe. We work closely within our supply chain to source exquisite, ready-to-wear items, create more inclusive size charts, and ensure that all our offerings are made with standardized, high-quality fabrics.
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Whether you’re a teacher, professional performer, or enthusiastic hobbyist, our dancewear and accessories beautifully complement your figure, highlight your moves, and boost your confidence on stage and in the studio.
We’re based out of Melody Movement Studio in Houston, Texas, and we’re proud to be a small, woman-owned business. We love all of our customers, and we strive to turn each purchase into a luxury boutique experience. We pay attention to tiny details and beautifully package your order, so you know how much we appreciate you.
Thank you for allowing us to provide you with fabulous dance apparel as you continue your dance journey!
To visit our boutique, email us to schedule an in-person or virtual shopping appointment! And to stock up on your favorite Melody Movement Boutique creations, head to our online store.
our
timeline
2016
Ella moved from Shanghai, China to Houston, Texas. She met Caspia at a local dance workshop in October. They instantly bonded and became friends.
2017
Ella sourced items for herself from various manufacturers and sold some of them to local dancers she met at classes, workshops, and events as a hobby.
2018
Ella launched the brand Houston Shining Baby. She and Caspia debuted their duet choreography at Gulf Coast Raks, where Ella worked as a vendor for the first time. In between workshops, Caspia used her natural sales skills to help Ella work the Houston Shining Baby booth. That same year, Ella and Caspia traveled to Lebanon on Lebanese Simon's tour before attending Ya Halla Y'all, where they won 1st Place and the People's Choice Award for their duet choreography.
2019
Houston Shining Baby gained popularity among professional dancers, and Ella attended three major festivals as a vendor: Gulf Coast Raks, Heart of America, and Ya Halla Y'all. Caspia helped Ella work the Houston Shining Baby booth in between workshops, just like she did at Gulf Coast Raks 2018. Ella won first place in the Professional Solo category at Gulf Coast Raks and 4th place at Ya Halla Y'all. Caspia won 3rd place at Ya Halla Y'all. Ella also graduated from the ESL program at Houston Community College and traveled to China with Caspia.
2020
Ella officially hired Caspia to help improve the company. Despite the lack of festivals due to the pandemic, Houston Shining Baby grew in popularity, primarily through its website.
2021
Ella and Caspia attended three local festivals in Texas. They cast local dancers as models for the company and improved their sizing charts to make their dancewear line more accessible and inclusive
2022
Ella's dream of owning a studio, event space, and boutique came true! Houston Shining Baby rebranded as Melody Movement Boutique, and Melody Movement Studio opened. Ella and Caspia announced the name change at their soft opening on April 23rd. The studio and boutique held their grand opening on September 24th.
2023
As Melody Movement Boutique grew in popularity, Ella and Caspia doubled down on their efforts to meet all of their customers’ needs. They increased the boutique’s inventory and designed many new products. To ensure their designs met the needs of all their customers, they began testing prototypes of each new design on real dancers of every size in their size chart before bringing the designs to market. The boutique also began creating more stage-ready designs. Ella and Caspia prioritized designs that were easy to pack for workshops and conventions, could be worn both on stage and in class, and that customers could easily mix and match with the dancewear they already own.
2024
The boutique launched many new stage-ready designs with groups in mind. Ella and Caspia loved the idea of group members of different shapes, sizes, skin tones, and heights all being excited to wear the exact same dress. To achieve this, they committed to creating their designs around the needs of plus-sized dancers. They knew that if they focused on meeting the needs of these dancers, dancers of all sizes would benefit from their designs. In June of 2024 Ella and Caspia announced the Crystal Crown Competition, a global virtual dance contest that allowed dancers of all skill levels to show off their best moves while wearing Melody Movement Boutique costumes and accessories.
Get to Know
Our Founder
Originally from Shanghai, China, Ella moved to Houston in 2016. Before moving, Ella was part of China’s elite dance world, a community of dancers who train rigorously and host massive festivals and competitions.
In China, dancers of all skill levels wear beautiful practice wear to all of their classes. Even the beginners!
When Ella first began attending classes in the US, she was surprised to find that all the students wore T-shirts, sports bras, and leggings to class. She was always the only one who dressed up for classes, but she knew her fellow dancers would also benefit from wearing practice gear.
As a member of the elite dance world, Ella experienced firsthand how dressing in proper dance attire led to more meaningful, productive practice sessions. Practice wear accentuates the movements and boosts the dancer’s self-esteem while cultivating a reverence for the dance, just like martial arts uniforms do for practitioners. And wearing garments made for dance during class gets students accustomed to dancing in long skirts like they would during a performance.
When Ella told her mentor, Lebanese Simon, about the custom of wearing dancewear to practice in China, he agreed that dancers in the US and around the world would enjoy wearing cute practice wear, too. He told her she should leverage her connections to make high-quality dance apparel accessible to all. His encouragement gave Ella the confidence she needed to bring gorgeous dancewear to MENAHT dancers worldwide by creating Melody Movement Boutique.
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Ella and our team continue to work closely within our supply chain to bring the best designs from the elite dance world to MENAHT dance enthusiasts across the globe. Thanks to her hard work and connections, we offer high-quality dancewear in a variety of sizes, so every dancer can look and feel their best while performing and taking classes.
