Discover our newest collection in collaboration with Cat Santos and David McLean

As a new year is born, so too is our newest collection, an exciting collaboration with well-known Australian commercial dancers and Energetiks ambassadors, Cat Santos and David McLean.

Delivering a much-needed dose of urban essentials to the dance market, Linkd is packed with edgy, eye-catching and essential pieces for every commercial contemporary dancer.

If you’ve been following along on our social media pages recently, you’d be all too familiar with Linkd in the lead up to its launch. There have been sneak peeks, flat lays and cheeky little videos, all highlighting just how versatile and irresistible every piece in the Linkd collection is.

Now that the wait for Linkd is over, we thought we’d pull back the curtain and share the motivation behind these must-have dance streetwear staples.

Inside the world of Linkd

Linkd was born from a simple idea. To create a collection of dance must-haves that links your dance world with your everyday life. Dancewear pieces that comfortably and fashionably take you from an audition to your weekly dance class, to the studio where you practice your latest routine and then out on the street.

“Our idea with Linkd was to bridge the gap between the ballet world and the commercial world,” says dancer, teacher and choreographer, Cat Santos. “There is such a high demand for leotards, crop tops and tights, but when it comes to your jazz, hip hop and commercial dancers, they find a lot of their dance gear at regular stores.”

“We wanted to create a collection that bridged this divide, where there are crop tops but they are cool and edgy, and for the boys who don't do ballet, baggier pieces of clothing.”

With years of collective experience between them as dancers and teachers, Cat and David were all too aware of the lack of clothing that catered to the needs of commercial dancers. “I used to see the same thing over and over,” says Santos. “There’d be leotards with different backs or hot shorts and crop tops but there was never a baggy tee with a pair of shorts.”

“We needed an Australian dance store that recognised dancers who wear lots of different things and aren’t always in technical gear.”

In a highly competitive industry, where your ‘look’ is just as important as your dance moves, it was vital to Cat and David that commercial dancers had a collection that was tailored to their needs, but was fashionable, on trend and timeless in its appeal.

“The main goal is just for everyone to be able to wear what they want and feel comfortable and a lot of the items allow you to do that,” says dancer, teacher and choreographer, David McLean. “It’s the casual kind of clothing that you can still dance in, that street style of clothing but with the moveability of dancewear.”

Driving this was the relentless audition circuit that so many commercial dancers find themselves on. Both dancers noticed that auditions were no longer solely about the moves, but were shifting towards a need to be fashionable, with many spending time online trying to find the coolest new pieces to wear to an audition. Wanting to put that money back into the dance industry, instead of into a global non-dance brand, was a key influence for both Cat and David. 

"If you do auditions, some people won’t want to wear track pants or sweats," says McLean. "For items like the men’s cargo pants, I like the fact that you’re able to wear these to an audition and move freely in them yet they look clean and still have a style about them instead of just having a pair of track pants."

The Linkd Collection

Encouraging dancers to be ‘anything but ordinary’ Linkd hits all the right style notes with its versatile, comfortable and urban-inspired pieces. Its mix and match qualities give you endless opportunities to try different outfit combinations, layering long sleeve tees over crops, mesh throw overs on top of tie back halters and track pants over shorts. 

And here lies the sheer brilliance of Linkd: its versatility. There is literally something for everyone in the Linkd collection. Ballet dancers can wear the crops with their favourite skirts, hip-hop stars can wear slouchy bottoms with their regular tops (or vice versa), and jazz dancers can layer any of the crops with their normal gear – or make up a whole new outfit combination.

Having been involved in the collection from the very beginning, Linkd is close to the hearts of both Cat and David. Every piece is treasured, with each having a key can’t-live-without favourite.

“For me it would be the high waisted black tights because it has been such a struggle since I started dancing to find a good pair of tights and I think we’ve finally made it,” says Santos.

For David, while the dance cargos are well loved, it’s the urban shorts that are at the top of his list.

“I’m very picky on the shorts I wear because of how they sit around your legs, especially if they’re too loose or too tight, but the shorts I’m really happy about,” says McLean. “Comfortably you can wear them to hang around in or to the gym or you can wear them to classes or anywhere.”

The full Linkd collection is available online and in-store for a limited time only. 

Don't forget to follow Cat on Instagram @catsantos and David @davidcmclean 

Article by Sarah Fennell.