Choosing Costumes For Different Body Types

Choosing Costumes For Different Body Types

Please be considerate when choosing costumes. Not all children have the same body type and not all costumes look good on everyone. Choose a costume that will look good on the whole class. I don't know how many times I have watched a dance performance and thought "What were they thinking." For example, don't choose crop tops when you have larger stomachs hanging out and bouncing around. This is distracting for the audience. I can only imagine how the student feels or later will feel. If I was a parent of a child costumed inappropriately, I would feel just awful. So, please choose wisely. Also remember, choosing a costume that is small or shows skin will not inspire a dancer to suddenly become healthier or loose weight. Don't even go there. Choose costumes that hide any trouble areas. Go for dance pants instead of fishnet stockings, go for an A-line top instead of the crop top, dress dancers as partners with one in a dress and one in a tux with tails. I know from experience that when you have some larger students that measure more than the XL size in the costume catalogs that you feel bad for the other students in the class that you are basing their costume around the larger student. In this situation be positive. Look for street clothes off the rack instead of ordering from a company. It sometimes seems that the measuring system in the costume catalogs are not realistic and are geared toward the petite ballerina type. My plea to the costume companys is to add more inches to their costume sizes. A large percentage of the dance studio population are kids that aren't the prima ballerina. Give us costumes that fit the everyday adolescent.