I figured I’d start with a juicy one!

Men wearing dance-belts

The dance belt is an undergarment worn by all classical (and most other) male dancers. It is shaped as a slip, although with a thong back, to prevent the garment from showing under tights. The key to understanding why so many men (and no, its not because we’re all strange!) chooses to wear such a untypical clothes, is purpose!

It’s really quite simple. Imagine that you spend a fair part of your day jumping. Often not only up and down (which can be tough enough), but moving in all kinds of twisted positions, splits, spinning in-air, turning on your legs (geez, writing this makes me realize what a fucked up job I have). In short: a lot of sudden movements. For a man, this means comfort-issues “down there”. Small or big, long or short, sexual preferences aside – it hurts when your balls smack against your thigh. So we need something to keep it all in one spot, no matter what – kind of like a sports bra for any female athlete; it’s all in the fix.

By the way, I wrote another post on what the girls wear under their leotards – way cooler, right?!

I could have written a lot on the prejudices linked to male dancers and so on and so fourth, but then again, for what? If you really want to believe we wear these clothes and do these things because of some twisted sexual preference or anything down that road, knock yourself out! UPDATE: guess I did comment it anyway..

In the end, the dance-belt is a tool of the trade! As the mason wears protective shoes to prevent his toes from braking, we wear dance-belts, also to prevent, well, uncomfortable situations. And that’s all there is to it.

Keep an eye out for more tools of the trade, explaining all the crazy things we use in everyday life as dancers.

Hint: Navigate around Tights and Tiaras by using the Navigation Menu on top of the page. See it? Now hover your mouse over the “columns” section.. Cool, eh? I love technology icon_smile-8256668

Ta-ta
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