Many people don’t understand or realize how intricate every detail is to create a satisfying dance performance. Unless you’re watching Dancing With the Stars, the best way to truly capture the experience of ballroom dance is to attend a dance competition and just watch.
You’ll see amazing dresses, dancers with hair in beautiful upsweeps or blowouts, makeup sparkling and glamorous. The gowns are beautiful. Sequins, lace, ruffles, satin. Long or short, in bright colors or pastels, what people wear to dance makes a statement not only about the music and the moves about their own style and approach to the dance.
We sometimes take for granted how stunning the costumes can be. But the first time a student steps into a dance competition and takes it all in, they are undoubtedly blown away.
Dress designers visit our studios all the time to work with our competitive students, creating gowns and outfits that perfectly match their approach to a particular performance. The story they want to tell. The image they hope to portray.
Some of our students make their own dresses, too. They are creative and talented enough to envision what they want to wear and then make it a reality through needle and thread, fabric and detail.
Dress historians say evening dress became a category in the mid-1820s. Back then, evening dresses differed from ballroom gowns by fabric and style – ballroom gowns had low or off-shoulder necklines and lavish detail.
Like any mode of fashion, there are tends to ballroom style. This year, the experts say animal prints, lush deep colors, and peplum are popular, along with tea length dresses and longer hair styles. That said, any dancer knows they take their own approach to what may be an industry-wide trend.
Regardless of how you interpret your dance as a mode of communication from you to the outside world, think about not only how to put your best foot forward, but how to dress that foot in such a way that your performance will be memorable. That’s one of the benefits of having a keen eye for dance fashion.