 the male dancer
written by Dancing Fool               on 04.07. at 00:14:00 - as answer to: Men, Dance, and Tights by Dance Guy at>Fear of tights kept me from trying ballet for many years. Once I decided to take the plunge, I realized they were no big deal. That is - after the first couple classes where I felt totally nked!>However, it seems the very first thing many friends ask when they hear I'm a dancer is, "do you have to wear tights?", which indicates they ARE a big deal to many people.>A lot of adult ballet programs have very relaxed dress codes to attract people who have some issue with the traditional dance garb. This is a mixed blessing: it may get them to class, but then the teacher can't properly correct them because he/she can't see what their body is doing under their sweats or other non-dance clothing. Meantime, it gives the class a very unprofessional look to others investigating the school. I felt the same way about tights, and, even now, I pull on sweatpants to get from the dressing room (actually, the men's room) to the studio and back. I'm a little long in the tooth to be taking up the art (hence, "Dancing Fool"), and tights are not flattering on me. But what the hell - every movement-oriented profession has its uniform, evolved to its needs; are hockey or football uniforms any less "ridiculous" than what dancers wear? Can anyone explain to me why tights, on male dancers, are suspect, but not on runners, skaters or gymnasts? I recall that tights became fairly popular as running garb back in the 80s, but the *suspicion* attached to dance tights did not transfer to running tights. Anyone care to speculate why that might be so? Answers to this message: 
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