New dancewear store, Dancy Pantz Boutique, opens in Okemos

Haley Hansen
Lansing State Journal
Megan Villasurda, owner of Dancy Pantz Boutique in Okemos, pictured in her new store, Thursday, Aug. 16, 2018.

OKEMOS — Megan Villasurda vividly remembers the ballet bars and large mirrors and dressing rooms that mimicked stages in the Grand Rapids dance store she visited as a child.

She hopes to create a similar memorable experience for the visitors of her own recently-opened dancewear store, Dancy Pantz Boutique. 

"I've always had a big passion for fitness and dance," said Villasurda, a longtime dancer. "And I always wanted to own my own store." 

Villasurda's store on Jolly Road is neatly organized with dozens of boxes of ballet slippers stacked from floor to ceiling. Her clothing racks brim with leotards in solid colors and fruit, gingham and metallic patterns. Villasurda plans to hang photos of local dancers on the ballet slipper-colored walls

The store will fill a retail gap in the Lansing area since longtime dancewear store Bottoms Up closed in May. A Bottoms Up customer herself, Villasurda took the closure as a sign it was time for her to open her own shop. 

MORE: Dancewear store Bottoms Up in Okemos to close

She got advice from the owners of Bottoms Up before opening her store. She also purchased some of their inventory as well as a book with contact information and dress requirements for studios in Michigan dubbed "the purple book." 

“It’s kind of like a dance Bible,” Villasurda said.

As a child, she tried other extracurriculars and sports, but dance was the one that stuck, she said. She started dancing at age three and started teaching at her local YMCA when she was 17. 

Megan Villasurda, owner of Dancy Pantz Boutique in Okemos takes a photo of signage being hung on her new storefront, Thursday, Aug. 16, 2018.

“The creative aspect is really what made me stick with dance over everything else," she said. 

Villasurda still teaches jazz, musical theater, hip-hop and tap at Class Act Competitive Dance Company and Kick It Out Dance Studio. She had some of the dancers she teaches mark up their favorite items in her catalogs to help her choose her inventory, she said. 

Along with pointe shoes — which ballerinas wear in order to dance on the tips of their toes — Villasurda also stocks tap shoes, jazz shoes and shoes for musical theater performances.

But it's not all tights and ballet slippers. Villasurda also has fitness, cheerleading, figure skating and gymnastics clothing for sale. That variety is intentional, she said.

“This is such a specialty store. It’s not like there’s much competition," she said. "It's very important to reach a larger market.”

Rhonda Mitchell, the owner of Patsy Watson School of Dance, said Dancy Pantz will be a welcome addition to the area since Bottoms Up closed, especially because ballet pointe shoes are so difficult to fit, making them almost impossible to order online. 

“I hope they do well,” she said. “We’ll send people our people there.”

Dancy Pantz Boutique

2395 Jolly Road, Suite 140, Okemos, Michigan

(517) 512-4673

Contact reporter Haley Hansen at (517) 267-1344 or hhansen@lsj.com. Follow her on Twitter @halehansen.