6 yr old ballet exam-no underwear allowed?!?

Depends on the exam uniform. When ds2 was younger it was singlet and ballet shorts so he could wear pants underneath. Now as a teen it's tights or legging so he wears ballet briefs to provide support where necessary without vpl.

Your dh's 'father of the bride' speech made reference to his daughter's childhood 'camel hoof'??
Seriously creepy!

They don't. And once they hit puberty they wear a g string that hauls up and flattens their genitals then wear thick tights and tight shirts that leave absolutely nothing to the imagination.

Mine has never worn underwear under his leotard. But after a certain level of maturity boys wear dance belts which are usually a sort of front padded g string. The keep the dangly bits from being crushed in leaps and allow them to wear tights without offending people.

It might not seem an issue aged 7 but by the time you get to aged 12/13 it is.

When my daughter was once a week I washed her leotards every half term. When she was full time and had started puberty they were washed daily but she was doing several classes per day.

This is an interesting thread. My daughter has her first ballet exam at the end of term so I’ve ordered dance underwear. I’ve also booked her in with a hairdresser for the day of the exam (she’s due a haircut then and the hairdresser said he’d do the ballet bun for an extra fiver).

Lucky you if your body happens to match the standard issue leotard.
There is zero difference between the cut of ballet and gymnastics leotards for 6yos. Gym Leo's are stretchier.
If anyone knows where to buy pure cotton Leo's, let me know, I get asked and haven't found one yet.
Top tip, multipack of plain pastel pants, one will match the ballet Leo, keep with Leo.
Top tip two, leo one size down, cut sleeves off, hem, stitch straps on, voila an under-leo.

Then I’d say this is about ill-fitting Leo’s - or maybe badly made ones. Or parents putting small children in old Leo’s or body suits which are not leotards made specifically for dance. All my leos have a flesh-coloured thick Lycra lining in the front. Ballet leotards are - or should be - cut differently from gymnastics Leo’s, swimsuits, or the all in one bodies that are occasionally fashionable.

But if you put a child in anything like a swimsuit or a leotard that is not the right fit - not long enough in the body, for example , then there is going to be evidence of the bad or inappropriate fit.

There is no difference between swimsuits and leotards in this situation. It’s down to parents checking that clothing actually fits!

The knickerless state absolutely CAN be seen. I've seen far too many children and photographs of children in leotards and no knickers showing appalling camel toe than I'd ever have liked.

Would you want to see a professional ballet dancer not well groomed? With knickers and bra straps showing and messy hair? I know small children are a long way from professional dancers but as others have said it’s about the discipline of ballet. Dancers wear their hair in buns so the beautiful neck line can be seen.

And it isn't just fabric next to their skin they have to be comfortable with. They need to work with other dancers (so female with male and vice versa) as their partner. They touch each other. A lot. It's part of the art.

This ethos is changing. Just because its what happened in the past it doesn't mean its acceptable for the future. Dancers are being encouraged to speak out against these practises

Male and female dancers touching each other is a practice against which dancers are speaking out? On what planet? How do you lift or support a partner without touching them? Or, indeed, how do you play parts such as Romeo and Juliet whilst maintaining a rigid distance?

I agree. It wasn’t acceptable.

No the mid 70s. Why would I lie. It happened. There were 15 or so girls in the school pool and the female teacher took her costume off. Some of the girls did too. It was an indoor school pool.

*shows or exams

Shoes will definitely be needed… and they just get more and more expensive 🤣

Nobody is losing marks for wearing knickers. Visible knickers (either because they are lumpy under the leotard, patterned and showing through, or hanging out the leg holes of the leotard) are messy. Ballet is a very disciplined art, and being neat is a good representation of the precision involved. The discipline is there from an early age, a lot of the precision comes later. But marks are not deducted for appearance.

If you or your DD is not happy with going without knickers under a leotard, then high legged nude-coloured knickers shouldn’t be an issue. The First Position ones are very thin fabric and don’t show at all. When DD was a JA at the Royal Ballet School, these were the ones we ordered from the uniform suppliers. Now she is at full-time ballet school, she continues to wear nude knickers under her leotard, again straight off the uniform list.

Many ballet teachers have the ‘no knickers for shoes or exams’ rule to avoid visible underwear, but would not object in the slightest to the ones I have described.

As an adult I had to realise that a cotton gusset is a bad idea if you're running through waist deep water (or getting very sweaty for a long while (half marathon) and that padded seam free cycling shorts work a lot better without pants. I also discovered some pants are better than others for horse riding!

I've worn normal knickers under shorts (cycling shorts and looser cut shorts - even the ones with a built in gusset) for every race I've ever done (maybe 50-60) and not found it problematic in any way! Sports bras on the other hand are much more likely to cause issues! but obviously they are essential (more so than knickers!)

I think what the dance mums are saying is that it’s entirely possible to buy pants that don’t show (and yes, you can buy very small ones for little DDs, especially as dance stuff always comes up tiny), and to do that if that’s what the OP and her dd prefer. But that many dancers prefer to just have tights and leotard, and its OK to have that preference.

And that tere are some old school teachers who say ‘no pants’, but they shouldn’t, and anyway if you buy the dance pants that don’t show, then the teacher will never know.