Guest Dancertell Posted September 4, 2016 Share Posted September 4, 2016 I am a 24 year old male and have recently taken up ballet after two of my female friends who have danced for years encouraged me to take it up. I was a bit unsure at first but as one of them has a small studio in her cellar I gave it a go. It was a lot harder than I thought but I enjoyed it. After a few private lessons my friend Danielle asked would I like to borrow her black shiny footed tights as they are easier to move in. I was unsure but quite also wanting to try them. I tried the tights on and they felt awesome. They felt to revealing though as I had never worn them before but also exciting. After a few lessons wearing the tights she gave me a pair of her navy blue shiny footed tights and offered me a leotard to wear over them as opposed to a Tshirt. Would a leotard be better to wear than a Tshirt? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Harwel Posted September 4, 2016 Share Posted September 4, 2016 Male dancewear consists of the following: Dance belt (jock strap) especially made for dancers so obtain from a dancewear specialist not a sports shop. Tights - made for men as thicker material - usually footless so can be worn with dance socks and cotton Lycra combination is far less revealing than shiny Lycra. Leotard for men as has extra material where needed or a close fitting T-shirt. Leotards are worn under tights not over tights. Good luck 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jan McNulty Posted September 4, 2016 Share Posted September 4, 2016 Hello Dancertell and welcome to the Forum. I notice that you had put the same post on several threads. It is not permitted to put the same post on multiple threads so I have hidden all the others and left this one. If you search the doing dance forum you will find a number of threads about adult ballet, which I am sure you will find useful. Good luck with your dancing! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
trog Posted September 4, 2016 Share Posted September 4, 2016 Depending on the weather, how I feel, etc, I go for a biketard, or leggings that end just below the knee and a t shirt or full length leggings (no feet) and a t shirt. I always go for cotton lycra - it seems cooler. I generally go for custom made too - better fit and larger range of colours. Off the peg is generally available only in black, white or maybe burgandy. I like purple. Dance belts are a must. Over the last couple of years, we've been able to get full seat ones here in Blighty easily (rather than thong back). Full seat is much more comfy and still does the business. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lisa O`Brien Posted September 4, 2016 Share Posted September 4, 2016 Welcome to the Forum, Dancertell. We have a couple of adult males on here who do Ballet, as well as plenty of younger boys too. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Colman Posted September 4, 2016 Share Posted September 4, 2016 Men's ballets tights, dance belt, vest and close fitting tshirt works for me and doesn't scare the horses. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
meadowblythe Posted September 4, 2016 Share Posted September 4, 2016 I know my son often wears cycle shorts and and a tight fitted t shirt for less formal dance sessions - also trainer sockes (the sort that fit inside a shoe) rather than ballet socks. He seems to buy a lot of this in Primark - often in the ladies department! The two "musts" are ballet shoes and a dance belt. All else is negotiable although as Harwell says, long ballet socks, footless tights and a leotard are the norm for a formal class. There is an awful lot more choice than there used to be, there are some dancing males and plenty of parents of dancing males on the forum so please ask! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LinMM Posted September 4, 2016 Share Posted September 4, 2016 I don't think leotards are that attractive on grown men personally! Why don't you look at some YouTube videos of Royal Ballet and ENB Company classes and see what the men are wearing!! lots of men just wear shorts these days some without tights some with. In the winter some sort of not too thick leggings or track suit bottoms gathered in at the ankle are okay. Unless you are taking an exam I wouldn't worry too much ...in the end though it's what you feel comfortable in that's important Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Colman Posted September 4, 2016 Share Posted September 4, 2016 Adult classes seem to fall somewhere between professional classes and kids classes for formality, so balance between what makes it easy for a teacher to see what you're doing, what you feel comfortable in and what you feel good dancing in. I know a lot of the ladies in my classes require a small act of bravery to turn up in leotards and tights so I'd feel bad being much more dressed than them. I wouldn't inflict a leotard on my classmates and the vision of me in dancebelt and shoes would cause a riot, and not in a good way. ???? Even for my exams it was tights/vest/tshirt, just white on top. Tights/leotard/tshirt would be an option too, if they made leotards in my size. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kate_N Posted September 4, 2016 Share Posted September 4, 2016 I wouldn't inflict a leotard on my classmates and the vision of me in dancebelt and shoes would cause a riot, and not in a good way. Ha ha ha! I think Meadowblythe meant that men generally (always?) wear something on top of the dancebelt! Not just only dancebelt & shoes ... Some of the men I've taken class with also use braces to keep their leggings/tights up. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
meadowblythe Posted September 4, 2016 Share Posted September 4, 2016 Erm yes - I think you would have to be at the extreme edge of contemporary to dance in just a belt and shoes ...... Apologies if I didn't make that clear. Do any of the gentlemen have any thoughts on unitards? Much better choice of styles and colours but I am definitely not in a position to make any comment on the practicality or otherwise. 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LinMM Posted September 4, 2016 Share Posted September 4, 2016 Most of the time I'm lucky as I can get away with some sort of yoga type bottoms and tops with often one of those UNIglo tops which supposedly keep you fresher longer and look a bit like the top of a leotard In one of my grade classes though track suit bottoms and the like are a no-no so although I'm lucky to get away with black rather than pink tights (complete anathema to me) I usually wear some sort of light weight ballet skirt thingy. In fact I went a bit mad recently and bought some especially made ones for me( a fraction longer so come just above the knee) and very pretty they are too! Unitards look great on straight up and down people but not so good if there are any signs of middle age spread!! 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Harwel Posted September 4, 2016 Share Posted September 4, 2016 That made me laugh out load - dance belt and shoes! DS favourite class attire is either a cotton Lycra Unitard or hot pants/compression shorts with close fitting T-shirt or vest. He loves sports wear as it comes in a lot more colours than the standard male dance wear. Of course dance belt and shoes non negotiable ???? 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CeliB Posted September 4, 2016 Share Posted September 4, 2016 probably a personal thing but I know DS much prefers the cotton/lycra tights (like the intermezzo pantaplie) to the more shiny lycra ones, at least for day to day class. He generally only favours the shiny type for performance. In our experience Porselli is one of the better online stockists for variety of mens dance wear... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
trog Posted September 5, 2016 Share Posted September 5, 2016 Erm yes - I think you would have to be at the extreme edge of contemporary to dance in just a belt and shoes ...... That is pretty much what the third seminarian wears in BRBs Carmina Burana. 5 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jan McNulty Posted September 5, 2016 Share Posted September 5, 2016 That is pretty much what the third seminarian wears in BRBs Carmina Burana. And very memorably too!!! 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alison Posted September 5, 2016 Share Posted September 5, 2016 Or Joseph in Josefslegende (I assume that's the correct spelling). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Dancertell Posted September 8, 2016 Share Posted September 8, 2016 Thanks! Think I will stick with the Lycra tights then think they are much better with the feet. I've gone for the dance belt aswell obviously! Will stay with a tshirt as opposed to a leotard for now. Suprised at how comfy the tights are to dance in think Lycra ones are much better than cotton. What would be the best colour combination of tights and Tshirt/leotard? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Colman Posted September 8, 2016 Share Posted September 8, 2016 Black tight show up sweat least, I wear random close fitting t-shirts as fit my mood. Some ballet themed, some not. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Dancertell Posted September 8, 2016 Share Posted September 8, 2016 I think the black tights are better. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JulieW Posted September 9, 2016 Share Posted September 9, 2016 My son from teenage years upwards wore cotton lycra footless tights with longish socks. Dark tights better than light. With a leotard underneath mostly, but sometimes (if wanting to be a bit more casual) with just a t-shirt (and he preferred a tight fitting t-shirt - cycling ones were good). At school they would use a leather (or similar) normal belt which you put round the top of the tights and wind the waistband down over the top - makes a good waistband I think. But once in upper school and when he turned professional (and not having to have a uniform) he loved cotton lycra unitards (especially with short legs finishing about mid-thigh) and the two-tone ones looked good (different colour on the top down to about chest level, with black on the lower half). 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TYR Posted September 9, 2016 Share Posted September 9, 2016 Black tight show up sweat least, I wear random close fitting t-shirts as fit my mood. Some ballet themed, some not. I kind of enjoy wearing something ostentatiously un-dancey to class, like an Internet Engineering Taskforce T-shirt. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
amum/Cathy Posted September 9, 2016 Share Posted September 9, 2016 My son from teenage years upwards wore cotton lycra footless tights with longish socks. Dark tights better than light. With a leotard underneath mostly, but sometimes (if wanting to be a bit more casual) with just a t-shirt (and he preferred a tight fitting t-shirt - cycling ones were good). At school they would use a leather (or similar) normal belt which you put round the top of the tights and wind the waistband down over the top - makes a good waistband I think. But once in upper school and when he turned professional (and not having to have a uniform) he loved cotton lycra unitards (especially with short legs finishing about mid-thigh) and the two-tone ones looked good (different colour on the top down to about chest level, with black on the lower half). The unitards are very popular. Wear Moi do a lovely 2 tone one. My ds wears a leotard that combines a dance belt, that just looks like a tight fitting T shirt - with dark cottons Lycra tights (stirrup) over the top and we see a lot of boys/young men wearing this Wear Moi leotard recently at a national competition. It comes in white or Black. I'll post a link to it in the next post, so that the mods can remove that post if it's considered advertising. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
amum/Cathy Posted September 9, 2016 Share Posted September 9, 2016 http://www.planetdancedirect.co.uk/Wear-Moi-Condor-Leotard-with-Dance-Belt Ds found the collar slightly scratchy at the zip so we just stitched down the corner, which looks fine. He wears it to death he loves it so much. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sarahw Posted September 9, 2016 Share Posted September 9, 2016 This is a random question - why do men wear knee socks if the leggings are full length? Just interested. ..... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Harwel Posted September 10, 2016 Share Posted September 10, 2016 At DS school the convention is to put your full length footless tights on, put your knee length socks over the top, pull tights up so they come to mid calf then fold the excess material from the tights over the top of the socks!! Reasons.... At a random guess any of the following: Smooth long line at ankle, making feet look better Neat line between sock and tights Makes calf muscle look bigger Smooth line at knee so can see if knees are pulled up Someone just fancied it that way one day and it stuck! 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sarahw Posted September 10, 2016 Share Posted September 10, 2016 I didn't miss anything obvious then!! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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