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Leotards/Uniform and bust support


balletla

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[quote name="Pas de Quatre" post="91696" timestamp="1399742899

 

However I am pleased to see that nearly all Vocational schools now have cap sleeve or vest top leotards available as part of the uniform, which allows a bra to be worn.

 

However, bras are not allowed to be worn - something that I keep having discussions with my DD about as I think all the girls should be wearing sports bras in their day to day classes. Even if relatively small up top, it can still stretch the ligaments and may cause issues in later years. She is adamant that they are not allowed to wear bras of any description and some of the girls are quite well developed!

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Ribbons, I am surprised that your daughter says bras may not be worn.  It was a few years ago, and I cannot remember where, either a teachers' seminar or audition practice, that this was talked about.  Spaghetti straps on leotards were going to become just one option with more solid leotards available so that girls who needed bras could wear them. I was under the impression that this was a concerted move by all the schools to counter one of the pressures leading to eating problems.  Are you sure this is actually the school's policy and not just one teacher?  Or even the girls themselves misinterpreting something?

 

The dance director Primrose referred to said exactly the same to my daughter in my presence, but what amused us both was that she cited Tamara Rojo as being an example of "tiny".  Ms Rojo may not be very tall, but she is beautifully womanly, and has stated in many interviews and articles that she does not approve of pressures in dancers to be thin as she had received criticism in the past for her weight.

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Is it possible to get the bra comments copied & pasted so a new thread makes sense?

Done, Pictures - not sure how much sense the thread makes as the questions were interspersed in the other thread. :-)

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I've just asked dd & she says they are not allowed to wear bras under their leotards.

 

They are allowed to wear done sort of stick on bra without straps (????) but they only come in adult fixings.

 

She only just started wearing a bra in the last few months, the girls at her previous school were wearing them I. Year 5 & 6 but she has only just started to develop.

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DD wears Bratek leotards which she loves they have an actual Bra in them & she is dreading next year as the 'uniform' leotard she may have to have may or may not enable her to wear a bra

 

She really needs a bra her actual size is a 26E but they don't make bras in that size so going bra less & exercising is painful

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My daughter had to wear a Bratek leotard and a bra for her adv 1 exam - she blames me for her "busty" genes. It became apparent quite a few years before that, that she wasn't built to be a professional dancer so it wasn't a big problem, but she still found it frustrating that our dance studio would get costumes for festival groups that didn't take her "build" into account.

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I am really unpleasantly surprised that the girls are not allowed to use bras, especially nowadays when there is a large range of 'dance underwear' solutions available which are barely perceptible when worn under a leotard. 

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DD wears a 28DD but the band size is a bit wide so she gets movement which is not ideal

 

There is a big campaign on Mumsnet about getting women into the right size bras as so many think they are a 32B/34C/36B and they are often a much smaller band & larger cup

 

The number of girls I see in completely inappropriate bra sizes is astounding - particularly in dance environment

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I have noticed that the RBS upper school leotards are very thin with no support and make even the most flat chested girls look positively busty.

Which  any young dancer scrutinizing themselves in front of a mirror day in day out would probably find unwelcome. They need as much self confidence as possible.

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Just asked my DS who says that the girls at Elmhurst are not allowed to wear bras under their leos but there is what he calls an extra layer of Lycra inside - he says that they still wobble when dancing - so if he is noticing that at year 7 it rather sounds that it needs a review of such a policy !

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In defence of RBS US up until recently the lady who made the leotards ensured each Leo had the support each individual girl required. She has retired so I can't speak for now. Is it worth seeing if a body stocking has support in to wear under the Leo? Failing that my mother used to sew in a support layer for my friend. I never had an issue though I would now.

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Oh it is such a good job I would never have been a professional dancer. My teachers allow sports bras (or just bras I think some girls wear) in class, and though they prefer if they can't be seen they don't make a fuss. Think they might more with the younger students though as they tend to have ones that at least match the colour of their leotard. For exams/performances I've always been allowed one if it couldn't be seen (found a good nude strapless wonderbra that actually supports) but have occasionally taken an exam with just the shelf in a leotard but wasn't really sufficient.

 

Have often commented with my dancing friends that there is a massive gap in the market for leotards that accommodate the more well-endowed among us - that laugh at Bratek leotards because we have no hope of fitting our assets into one that fits the rest of our body properly! They could make them in actual bra sizes I suppose...

 

Rules at vocational school sound a bit unhelpful and I can see how they could contribute to children's weight issues. No one likes to wobble all over the place and surely teachers can't enjoy watching it.

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Just to put in the mix my DD who is larger than average (bust size) for her age and is at vocational school, was horrified at the idea of wearing a bra under her leotard when I mentioned it to her today....she said she could not think of anything worse!

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DD also prefers not to wear one - though for shows with lots of quick changes they often have the one spanner linked to or similar. Some of her friends (not at vocational school)have sewn flesh coloured or bras the colour of their leotards into their leotards and then removed the straps so that they get a bit extra support and to feel more covered in thin leotards.

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At DS's school the younger girls uniform is a white leotard. They almost all wear nude bodystockings underneath...Even little ballet girls develop earlier now than in years gone by, and I'm sure that many would not be comfortable without a little bit of 'armour'.

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This is quite random but circa 1993 there was a documentary about Central School of Ballet featuring a number of first and third year students who were studying there. I recall that in the shots of the first year girls classes, several of the girls were wearing white sports bras under their (low backed) leotards. Obviously these were extremely visible as the back of the leotard did not cover the bra.

 

Obviously this is 20 years ago now so I have no idea what their policy is now.

 

The vocational school I attended did not have a uniform and the only rule was we were not allowed to wear black leotard, there was no rule on bras although I don't particularly remember anyone wearing one (not that I was paying much attention!)
 

(What a topic for my second post here! :lol: )

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Invisiblecircus, I also don't think there were any 'bra rules' when I was at school and also don't remember anyone wearing them. Having said that, it was a while ago and we didn't have the undergarment options that are available now :) 

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I've always been busty - my mother wears a 32K - and interestingly, when I was a teenager I wouldn't wear a bra under a leotard. I much preferred to wear a leotard that was on the tight side which squashed my chest right down so that hardly anything moved. I felt that wearing a bra shaped my bust but I wanted to be flatter. Fortunately I'm fairly short in the body so the smaller leotards did their job without revealing too much, but I can totally understand girls not wanting to wear a bra under their leos.

 

As a student I always thought it looked messy, and the elastic nature of a leotard will change the bra shape too so the material rucks up, the underwires dig in and it can get quite uncomfortable. As a teacher, I am sympathetic to the self-conscious needs of a teenager however I don't like to see bras. Our level 3 leotards are wide strapped camis with a high back, to conceal a bra should the dancer feel the need for one, and are lined on the front. But it's hard to find a nice range of affordable wide strapped. classical leos in the uk, that are not just boring 'vest' types, and the nicest wide strapped have a low back! (duh!). In USA and AUS there are some perfect ones out there but the shipping is more expensive than the leotard!

 

Also - the 'shelf bra linings' in leotards are NOT BIG ENOUGH FOR REAL BOOBS! I used to have to actually cut them because they would only come down as far as halfway down my bust! 

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I think when I was doing ballet when younger there just wasn't the range of leotards there are today. So there didn't seem to be this conflict .....it was easy to wear a bra under a leotard......without it being seen at the back.

These days although the Leo's are very pretty they are often cut low at the back and bras showing don't look very nice then.

 

There may be another issue with early teens as well. I can distinctly remember hating wearing bras altogether when I was about 13-14!!

Inspite of being shy about my body. I felt them very restrictive etc so can see why some girls may not like to wear one under a Leo.

Personally I feel it should be a matter of choice and not decided by the ballet mistress.

 

However in vocational schools and even RAD they do seem to favour the style of leotard which is better without a bra so difficult for those who want to wear one with the styles of leotard they have to wear.

 

But for us oldies a bra is a must really and there are still only a few leotard styles which make it possible to do so!!

I'm sure it can't be that difficult to have a leotard with a proper in built bra which would allow for a greater range of styles to be worn.

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