Dance is a discipline and it has its own rules. An essential part of the discipline is the attire one wears for dance classes. There is logic behind proper attire – It is essential so that your teacher can check the muscles you are engaging and if you are engaging them to the correct extent.  The proper attire is necessary to provide you with the freedom to move; to avoid restrictions on any part of the body whilst dancing.

In this issue, we’ll cover one important part of the ballet attire – the ballet tights. Ballet tights are long legging-like garments. For girls, tights are thin, almost see through; whereas boys wear slightly thicker tights which prevents the leg hairs from being visible. Ballet tights are generally made of stretchable micro-fibre that allows free movement of legs and helps students to execute jumps and leaps without any limitations. Their skin-hugging nature makes the form of leg muscles easily discernable to the teacher making it possible to check if the muscles (esp. knee and thigh muscles) are pulled up correctly whilst performing the steps.

Ballet tights come in three styles – footed, footless and convertible. The footed ones go over the foot, covering the foot fully; and the footless ones reach only to the ankles. The convertible ones can be worn both ways. They have a hole at the back and thus can be rolled up to the ankles.

One question that occurs to many young dancers about the tights is how to put them on! The correct way to do so is to roll up each leg of the tight first. An important point to note is that your tights are not to be pulled up like pants, as doing so may cause you to tear them. Try rolling up your tights before you put them on.

I hope you now understand the importance of wearing tights. Make sure you wear them for every ballet class. See you at the barre!

< back to posts