Your dancewear should always fit snug for good reason. Having a bad fit may hinder your movement and, unsurprisingly, that’s pretty important when dancing. Your dance teachers may also need to have a clear sight of your body’s lines to provide correct and accurate feedback.
New dancewear just like any other clothing may not be as stretched when still new and may make you feel somewhat uncomfortable. The first tip is to be patient; give it time.
After wearing it a couple more times, your dancewear will usually feel much more comfortable. There are some things you can do, however, to accelerate the process for leggings, tights, jazz pants and other stretcher-clothes. Skirts may tear if you try to stretch them beyond their limits.
So, it’s better to get a replacement for non-stretchy clothing that doesn’t fit you. This also goes for dancewear that doesn’t fit you at all, either it’s too small or large. Getting a fitting size would be appropriate in this instance.
The following tips should take you successfully through the stretching journey for your new dancewear:
- First, figure out which part of the clothing you want to stretch (length and width stretches are needed commonly). Now move around in the clothing while laying some stress on the intended stretching points. Doing squats or arm circles for results on thighs of jazz pants and shoulders of leotards respectively are also helpful.
- The same goes for your pair of shorts. Some stretches for the glutes may be needed to have them fit perfectly. You could, while watching TV or at the gym stick your butt out and (ignoring the silly feeling), stretch your glutes with hip circles.
- A little dampening with lukewarm water could help with the stretching of the material, especially if step 2 isn’t working. Since some clothing may not go on that smoothly while wet, you could consider hitting the shower with your leotard on. However, watch out with hair products since they may leave stains.
- Repeat the process in step 2, trying to stretch the tight points of your material. You could let the clothes dry while on, as long as temperatures are okay.
- If step 3 doesn’t suffice, though in most cases it does, you could sleep with the dancewear on and it’ll be able to take your body shape all the more. Furthermore, the heat your body emits and sweat will play a part in helping the material stretch.
- This step will work for leotards and in the case that nothing else does. You can, with precision, make a light cut or a complete one if the former doesn’t suffice, on either side of the leotard lining just about near the side sewings. However, this is an option only for those whose leotards have a lining and a thick fabric.
- It’s not advisable to use a dryer on your stretched dancewear. After washing it, which you can do using a washing machine, you should consider leaving it to dry as it is.
Try these simple tips for stretching out your dancewear and you’ll be dancing happily and comfortably. Let us know which tip was your favourite and worked for you!
