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Designing dancers: where movement and material meet.

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Dancers know what looks good. Be it their line, the quality of their movement, or how a leotard flatters their body. So it's no surprise that more and more dancers are taking to the sewing machine to design fashionable and functional clothing. Dance Magazine spoke with several dancers turned designers. They all agree: To make it as a designer you need the perseverance of a dancer.

Marisa Cerveris danced with New York City Ballet, Nacho Duato's Compania Nacional de Danza, and in The Phantom of the Opera on Broadway. With no formal design training, Cerveris used the sewing skills her mother taught her to found By Marisa dancewear. "I started cutting up and putting things back together in an effort to see what I wanted to wear," says Cerveris. "I'd go home and make a leotard. Then I started making things for friends."

When stumped by a design difficulty, she sought advice from costumers at the NYCB costume shop. While in the cast of Phantom she had the opportunity to delve deeper into the fashion world. "The garment district was right around the comer," says Cerveris. "Between the matinee and evening shows I'd shop for fabric. For years I was dancing and designing at the same time."

Then came the leap--or push--from dancer to full-time designer. She'd just retired from Phantom and had...

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