Today’s Topic: Dance Belts.
What is a dance belt?
It is an undergarment for male dancers.
What is the dance belt’s function?
Its two primary functions are to conceal and protect (I think you know what).
Why do male dancers have to wear a dance belt?
In a nutshell (pun intended), male dancers need their hanging glands to be placed out of the way from their own legs squeezing together and from other peoples limbs flying towards that area. If they don’t wear one…they will be dancing the “Nutcracker” in a literal sense. It’s incredibly unsafe to dance without one (any kind of dance). Male dancers who are required to wear tight pants or leggings need to wear dance belts because it looks really obscene not to. They might as well not wear anything. It looks crazy when guys don’t wear one.
How old do you have to be before wearing a dance belt?
Here’s our stance on this: if you are wearing tights, you should be wearing a dance belt, no matter what age you are. There are dance belts available in size, even a children’s size 4.
“Can my son just wear tight underwear?”
-No.
“But my son is really young and doesn’t have much down there.”
-If your son is wearing tights or bike shorts or something like that, underwear is not ok (at least not to my working eyes). Not only can we still see what’s under them, we can also see the awful looking lines from the underwear.
“My son hates the thought of wearing a dance belt, what do I do?”
-You know your son better than we do, so whatever successful techniques you have to get him to do things he doesn’t want to do, use those. However, I am going to give you my two cents as a men’s athletic coach and as a former gymnast who had to start wearing a leotard at age 6; Address it in a matter-of-fact way. This is what you have to wear. The end. Dance belts are what dancers wear. Period. The end. I sure as heck did not want to wear a leotard for gymnastics but it wasn’t something we were allowed to complain about. And that helped, a lot. The other thing I can recommend is to show him a jock strap and a sports cup. Um... those things stink! I don’t want to wear those, ever. A dance belt (at least the WearMoi dance belt we carry) is WAY more comfortable and better looking than those two items. And on top of that, it’s an undergarment. No one can see this thing (that’s the point of it).
Example Jock Strap:
“What are the feelings on a full seat dance belt vs. the thong dance belt?”
-There are mixed feelings about the full seat dance belt. Some believe it’s a crutch or a wimpy way out of wearing a thong. Others think it’s a great way to transition into the thong and a great thing for the dancers that are not so serious about the craft but want the concealing and protecting benefits. As a dance store, there is no way we can’t offer both. And honestly, we like both. We don’t think there is anything wrong with having a transitional style or a substitute undergarment for those who are recreational. But we do understand those who believe it might make the boys still not open to wearing the thong when they need to.
Full Seat Thong Back
“How do you wear the dance belt?”
-In order for the dance belt to achieve both the concealing and protective properties, the dancer needs to lift all things that hang in between his legs up to his stomach and slide the dance belt up so the pouch keeps what was once hanging, up. Basically, make sure you tell them that “everything down there needs to be up in the air, and then the cushion of the belt holds it there.” And the thong of the belt will, yes, be up the crease in between the glutes.
“What is the best dance belt?”
-There is a reason why we only offer one dance belt. It’s the best one. We know this because one of the owners (me) has worn EVERY SINGLE ONE OF THEM. I know there are die-hard fans of other brands but I’d be REALLY surprised to hear that they tried the WearMoi belt we sell and said “Errr... No… I like the one I wear better.”
“Who else can benefit from wearing a dance belt?”
-If you are supposed to wear one when you dance, you should probably be wearing one if you are taking yoga, pilates, or other movement modalities that require a lot of opening and closing of the legs or activities where there is contact to the groin (we’ve actually had quite a few horseback riders and jockeys come to our store searching for a dance belt). I’m not positive but I think wrestlers wear biketards and… wear no underwear. Weird. They would benefit a lot from a dance belt.
thanks for this information. My 12 years old son is now using a thong dance belt every class and sometimes like regular underwear, and he is comfy with that
Would a young but tall three-year-old who still wears diapers be able to get away with wearing his diaper during dance class or should he wear a dance belt instead? I think a 4T would fit him and he definitely has the bowel and bladder control necessary to make it through a thirty-minute class. Would the diaper chafe? (I think he’s going to dance in sweatpants and a t-shirt, so there’s no tights issue. Thank you!
I’m an older male (62) who practiced Yoga for three years before discovering a Dance Belt. I had injured “myself” several times and finally asked a male Yoga Teacher about it who clued me in. It wasn’t a “collision” injury that you immediately knew happened but a soft tissue injury that showed up later. Fortunately, everything still works okay but things don’t look the same. Like Mike (above) says, “I cannot stress enough that guys wear a dance belt”. Don’t wait until AFTER you’re injured.
So, dance men – I have a question. How um, firmly held in place should everything be if a belt fits properly? My son is not keen on the belts I bought him (full seat Wearmoi), because he finds it too tight in the front region. The belt seems to fit him well in the backside (in a fitted way). I’m wondering whether he should move to the next size up, but am concerned that if I move him up, the belt will be too roomy and not do its’ job properly.
I’ll second the claim that the Wear Moi ones are the best.
And to those of you out there who are on the fence with dance belts (try not to picture that literally), just know that I knew two guys who ended up needing surgery for testicle torsion because they refused to wear a dance belt.
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