"What do you mean I need to buy dance clothes and shoes? Haven't I spent enough money on lessons already??" I know, I know.. Truth is, having clothing and especially shoes for dancing makes it a lot more enjoyable. And they don't have to break the bank.
I didn't always dress this snappy (my wife bought most of my clothes worth wearing), and I've always tended to buck the trend towards dance studio-themed clothing. Not only do many other clothing choices do the job just as well, they're cheaper too.
Over time, I met others who felt the same way I did, who managed to cut costs on their dance wear, while still buying what looked good and felt comfortable. The tips I'm including today are a combination of their advice and my own. Enjoy!
Transcript:
Hey guys! My name is Ian Crewe. I'm an instructor at the Joy of Dance Centre in Toronto, Ontario, and the creator of Social Ballroom Dance: Where you can learn your dance, at your place, on your schedule.
When I first started ballroom dancing, one of my first challenges was having appropriate dance clothes to wear. Back then I was not what you would call a snappy dresser - I was more the kind of guy with the baggy clothes who you might not want to meet at a dark night in an alley.
I didn't even have any proper dance shoes - I generally danced in my socks, because they were the only things I owned that were slippery enough for me to do my turns.
Now, over time I learned how find clothes that were nice, and I could do it on a budget, because I didn't have a lot of disposable income at the time. And I met other students and instructors who were doing the same thing. So today, I present to you our five best tips for how to dance - and wear - on a budget.
Tip number one: Buy shoes that are cheap, but not too cheap. Sure, you could buy those dance shoes that are less than $30 on Amazon, but they those tend to fall apart pretty quickly, and who knows how much the workers who made them got paid?
I recommend aiming for the mid-range, say, $50 to $100. You can find some great brands through a site called Ballroom Guide - I'll include a link to them below (http://www.ballroomguide.com), and I'll just read off the shoes that they are recommending on this list here, so that you can look these up on Google.
So we have Bloch, Capezio, Diamant, Freed of London, Gogo, Rotate Dance UK, Stephanie Dance Shoes, Topline, and Very Fine.
I'll also include my personal plug here for C&W Dance Shoes. This is great if you live in Toronto - this is actually where I got my very first pair of dance shoes, and amazingly I still wear them sometimes today, and I have yet to wear holes through the soles. That's the only pair of shoes I haven't done that with, so that says something! So I highly recommend them, go check them out.
Tip number two: Use ballroom dance soles. This solution is a little bit DIY, but it allows you to restore the soles of dance shoes that have worn out, or even to convert non-ballroom dance shoes into dance shoes.
You simply need to buy your soles - preferably from a dance site like Soles2Dance for example, and you can either slap them on with the adhesive that some pads come with, or you can glue them on with a sturdy glue like shoe glue.
Make sure wherever you buy the dance soles that you are buying them from a place like Soles2Dance, because not all suede leather is created equal you want the leather that's specifically designed for dancing, that's soft enough to give you the traction you need on the floor.
And make sure that you follow the glue or adhesive drying instructions, just to make sure that your sole isn't going to come flying off in the middle of your dance performance.
Tip number three: Don't buy your clothing at a regular dance studio. Branded dance clothes are often very expensive, and they're no better than clothes you could just buy when you're out shopping anywhere.
Just make sure that you are buying clothes with the right kind of material, so a lightweight cotton or linen is often great. You want to be able to see the light coming through it, and it should be light in your hands. These are both signs that it's a lightweight material and it's going to breathe well.
Not so good choices will be things like silk or polyester, these types of fabrics tend to hold the heat in - you don't want to turn into a wet sleeping bag on the floor.
Tip number four: Learn how to make small repairs using needle and thread. This is such an easy way to double the lifespan of your clothing. If you don't know how to mend a button or a small tear yet, go to YouTube and learn.
It is just a piece of cake to do, best five ten minutes you'll ever spend, and it's just gonna make it so much easier for you to just fix any little problems in your clothing, before it becomes something big that stops you.
Tip number five: If you decide to go competitive, consider buying and gluing on your own rhinestones. As Steve said in our interview last week, that can be very very expensive to have somebody else do them, because each one is literally glued on by hand, and if you're willing to put in the time it can save you thousands of dollars.
Just make sure that you have a design in mind before you start gluing, and that you follow that design VERY closely: You don't want to get paid off of all that hard work with a ruined dress. But you can pick up some fairly simple clothing at places like Men's Dance Pants, or EK clothing.
One instructor I know actually just grabs a bottle of wine, puts on a show that she likes, and spends the evening gluing. Sounds like a pretty good night in.
So hopefully these tips help you not only look smart and dress smart, but shop smart as well. And if you have any questions about them please feel free to message me on my Facebook fan page, Ballroom Dancers Anonymous, or you can email me at ian@socialballroom.dance again that's ian@socialballroom.dance.
And this concludes our theme this month on ballroom dance wear. Next weekend, we're going to have a one-off and I don't know what the topic is going to be yet: you're just gonna have to wait and see.
So until then, happy dancing!