What to put on first, the shorts, the skirt or the leotard?
Getting your dancer ready for the first time in their dance uniform can be quite confusing, with shorts a leotard and and skirt lots of people are unsure on the order to wear these clothes.
For dance (at LDS classes) the first thing is the shorts! Dance clothes are very fitting so that teachers can see children’s hips, knees and ankles to check their alignment to avoid injury.
Some dancers feel more comfortable with more coverage than is offered with just a leotard. We want our dancers to feel comfortable but also to keep them safe which is why we have shorts as an important part of our uniform.
The shorts are then covered with the leotard (think superhero with their pants on top)
At Leivers Dance we use shorts as a replacement to the tights which would traditionally be worn underneath the dancers leotard in classical ballet and this is the reason for the shorts being put on first.
For ballet the skirt is worn on the top. The skirt helps dancers (particularly very young dancers) with their “port de bras”. No this isn’t another item of clothing but is the dancers arm placement. Holding out their skirt will create the correct arm line for young dancers.
The skirt will be removed for Acrobatics. Dancers can become very disoriented when they are upside down and having a skirt obscure their vision only adds to the confusion. In addition to this a teacher cannot safely spot a dancer who has a skirt on as they can be unable to get a safe grip on the dancer.
So to recap at Leivers Dance school we ask for dancers to wear their shorts first, followed by their leotard with the skirt on top.
Hopefully this will help with understanding the order of clothing. Our older dancers will be allowed to wear leggings in the place of shorts if they wish to.
If you require any additional uniform please pop to the online store and find your child’s group. All uniform is available here.
Getting your dancer ready for the first time in their dance uniform can be quite confusing, with shorts a leotard and and skirt lots of people are unsure on the order to wear these clothes.
For dance (at LDS classes) the first thing is the shorts! Dance clothes are very fitting so that teachers can see children’s hips, knees and ankles to check their alignment to avoid injury.
Some dancers feel more comfortable with more coverage than is offered with just a leotard. We want our dancers to feel comfortable but also to keep them safe which is why we have shorts as an important part of our uniform.
The shorts are then covered with the leotard (think superhero with their pants on top)
At Leivers Dance we use shorts as a replacement to the tights which would traditionally be worn underneath the dancers leotard in classical ballet and this is the reason for the shorts being put on first.
For ballet the skirt is worn on the top. The skirt helps dancers (particularly very young dancers) with their “port de bras”. No this isn’t another item of clothing but is the dancers arm placement. Holding out their skirt will create the correct arm line for young dancers.
The skirt will be removed for Acrobatics. Dancers can become very disoriented when they are upside down and having a skirt obscure their vision only adds to the confusion. In addition to this a teacher cannot safely spot a dancer who has a skirt on as they can be unable to get a safe grip on the dancer.
So to recap at Leivers Dance school we ask for dancers to wear their shorts first, followed by their leotard with the skirt on top.
Hopefully this will help with understanding the order of clothing. Our older dancers will be allowed to wear leggings in the place of shorts if they wish to.
If you require any additional uniform please pop to the online store and find your child’s group. All uniform is available here.
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