An Interview with Samantha Carney, Managing Director at Dansez

By Emma Brown, bbodance Marketing Intern 2026

Please share a little background information about yourself and how you ended up specifically in this industry.

I was a dancer and trained intensively from the age of 3 until I was around 18 or 19. I then took a break from dance for about a year but soon returned to London to retrain. I went to auditions and became involved in the commercial side of the industry.

At the same time, I became involved with Dansez, initially as a dance model for their range. My journey then took me into the company rather than continuing with a career in dance performance. My current role has allowed me to stay within a world that I love. If you’re a dancer, I think there’s a commitment within you that never really leaves.

When I was a teenager, there were very few options for nice dancewear. In fact, the choices were pretty awful! In classes, we used to take old leotards, cut the backs out of them and do all sorts of crazy things. Our parents probably despaired – they had bought these leotards for class, only for us to come home having cut a massive hole in the back because we liked the idea of an open back!

At Dansez, I worked my way through the company. When I started, I was simply learning the ropes, and I eventually became General Manager. Around 15 or 16 years ago, I became the owner of the company and have driven it forward to where it is today.

Did you ever see yourself ending up in this industry? Is fashion something that interests you?

I am very much into fashion. I know what I like and have a very keen eye for it. I know what I love and what I don’t. I love elegant things; I don’t love brash, in-your-face designs. For me, it’s much more about subtlety.

I suppose that, as a former dancer, I understand what is acceptable and appropriate for dancers, and we are incredibly particular about quality. For example, our leotards have a different shape to them, which means they hug the body and don’t shift. It’s those little details that, unless you’ve danced, you don’t necessarily understand.

Did I see myself going into the fashion world? No, I think I fell into it. I’d like to sit here and say, “Yes, you know, I love designing things and it’s where I always wanted to be,” but I didn’t. I fell into it, and it has become a real love and passion. It has fulfilled that side of me that was missing when I stopped dancing.

These days, I have some of my very best friends in the professional dance world, and I get to work with them. It can be incredibly fulfilling. There’s just something about it. I didn’t think, when I initially left dance, that anything was missing or that I would need it in the future, but it’s definitely a part of me that never leaves.

Specifically for Dansez, what’s something you would want people to know about your brand that makes it stand out from other competitors?

We’ve always been very focused on innovation. In fact, the company patented the first sports bra, “The Minimal Bounce Bra” back in the 80s - a product which is still popular today. More recently we were the first UK company to produce garments using regenerated fabrics. Innovation is very important to us, alongside integrity and ethics.

We decided to become more planet-friendly, understanding that there is a real need across the world to do this. Once you start looking at the impact of every decision, it encompasses everything. If we decide to design something and then have it manufactured in Asia or somewhere else, there can be a significant impact on the planet. So, we’ve committed to making everything here in the UK.

Dance is a niche area. It’s not as big as the fashion world in any way, shape or form. By keeping our manufacturing in the UK, we’ve been able to retain control over the process. We know our quality, and we know that if a dance school has chosen us to supply its uniform, we will provide something with longevity. We won’t suddenly drop a design because it no longer suits us or because it isn’t fashionable anymore.

If a school commits to a uniform design with us, we continue to support that design for as long as we are there for that school. These are small commitments that we are able to make because we have full control. It’s our own factory, our own machinists, and we don’t manufacture for other brands.

That’s quite unique in the UK these days. There aren’t many brands left that manufacture their own products. The manufacturing industry declined significantly in England, but I think it’s slowly starting to come back. We’re lucky to have some fantastic, highly skilled workers who enjoy what they do and are happy to be part of our wonderful, slightly crazy dance world!

Can you talk about the process of partnering with different dance organisations and how you go about creating the uniform for them?

Particularly with bbodance, it was really important for us to understand exactly what they wanted. We didn’t approach them by simply saying, “Here’s a new product line, with a little rack and all the products.”

The bbodance community is unique, and its members have different requirements. So, the design and creative side of the bbodance collection was driven by the bbodance team, who had taken the time to talk to and listen to their members. For us, it’s about understanding those needs and then working collaboratively to create something that feels right for the organisation and, most importantly, for the dancers who will wear it.