During Competition Season, our top-selling item is undoubtedly Dance Tights. From January to March last year, we sold well over 2,000 pairs! For first-time dance parents, selecting the right tights can be overwhelming; what style, which fabric, what shade of pink is the correct shade and wait what does convertible mean? You may even wonder why dancers wear tights at all! 

Easy! Dancers wear tights because their dance teachers tell them too! 

Just kidding, but they do help both teachers and dancers monitor alignment during movement. By wearing tights, teachers can easily identify areas of misalignment that need adjustment, while dancers can also see their own alignment and make necessary corrections easier! 

Leigh Purtill, Artistic Director of the Leigh Purtill Ballet Company, claims she loves when dancers wear tights because “it is tremendously helpful to be able to look in the mirror and see where your leg is, whether your hips are tilted, if your shoulder is lifted.” she claims. But you need to feel that. You need to feel movement. Baggy clothes or an extra shirt create a barrier between your body and the space around you” 

Ballet tights give ballet a polished look and really enhance the graceful feel of this classical dance style.

There are lots of different styles of dance tights; footed, convertible, stirrup, capri and footless. Before purchasing tights we always recommend checking your studio dress code to see which style and colour of tight is required for each class. Footed tights are the classic dance tights that cover the entire leg and foot, typically worn with dance shoes. In contrast, footless tights and capri tights leave the foot bare! Footless tights reach just to the ankle, while capri tights extend to mid-calf.

Convertible tights combine the features of footed and footless tights! They can be worn over the foot to mimic footed tights but have a hole at the bottom of the foot. This design allows dancers to easily transition to being barefoot—perfect for switching from ballet to acro—by simply pulling their foot through the hole, turning them into footless tights! Convertible tights are recommended for dancers with back to back classes with different tight requirements, dancers who own pointe shoes or for quick changes at competition. Stirrup tights are a distinctive style often used in modern dance. They feature an open toe design, with the fabric extending halfway down the foot instead of stopping at the ankle like footless tights. This creates a longer leg line while still keeping the toes free!

Although tights are stretchy, they can be fragile! You will need to remind your dancer tights need to be cared for with love! Although we always recommend purchasing a back-up pair for emergencies, we still want to ensure a pair can last us as long as possible! When putting on your tights avoid using your fingernails and grab as much fabric as possible when pulling them up. When it comes time to wash your tights, we recommend hand washing them! If you want to throw them in the wash, keep them in a lingerie bag on a delicate cycle. 

Brands We Carry

Mondor

For our baby ballerina’s or a dancer who likes a thicker tight material,  we carry the Mondor Durable Footed Tights (Style 345). With a 70 denier and comfort knitted waistband, we recommend these tights for our little dancers buying their first pair of tights, or as a back-up pair for all dancers during the colder Canadian winters! Made with 95% Nylon and 5% Lycra Elastane. 

So Danca

Our best selling tight is our So Danca performance tights in our microfiber material. These tights are known for being a buttery soft, seamless and stretchy allowing for an overall comfortable fit. Due to the stretch of these tights one size fits a wide range of ages and heights! The tights are perfect for your weekly dance class but also popular for dancers who hit the stage at competitions. 

Pssstt..For all competition tights, we recommend grabbing a back-up pair!

Capezio

Similar to our So Danca tights, our Capezio Ultra Soft Transition Tights 

 tights are a fan favourite for comfort with their patented TACTEL® fabric extra soft material and self knit elastic free waistband. Our most popular competition tights, we can see why lots of our local studios love the Capezio Ultra Soft Transition Tight! 

Made with 86% Nylon and 14% Spandex. 

Citation 

Purtill, Leigh. “Why Wear Leotards and Tights in Class? Because...” Ballet With Leigh - Los Angeles, 26 Sept. 2017, fitballet.blogspot.com/2017/09/why-wear-leotards-and-tights-in-class.html.