Aerial Costume Guidelines
When choosing a costume for an aerial silks performance, there are several things to keep in mind. Here are some basic guidelines to get you started.
1) Costumes should cover the body adequately. We want to maintain a wholesome atmosphere in our gym. No bare midriffs, bare shoulders, or low cut tops. We highly recommend sleeves for underarm coverage. Leotards and biketards without leggings or long shorts will need to be worn with dance tights (flesh colored is fine).
Beyond our basic modesty rules, your routine can also guide how much coverage you should look for in your costume. Do you need extra coverage to avoid fabric burns doing certain moves? Or on the other hand, you may want a little less coverage if your routine includes a knee climb, for example, since exposed knee pits can help your grip. It is certainly possible to do a knee climb in leggings, however. Practice and experience, help of course. You definitely wouldn’t want to wear something loose that will slide or rotate around your leg. One student added hot glue to the back of her costume to help with her knee grip!
Sometimes it works fine to have a short skirt with the costume, but this again depends upon the moves included in the routine.
Having compressive leggings and/or a layer of tights underneath your costume can help protect you from bruising if your routine includes drops. You can buy footless dance tights several different places, and some places even sell body tights, which can be helpful to protect hips and torso.
2) Costumes should follow our general clothing guidelines that help us avoid snags. Look for costumes that don’t have zippers or hooks. If you really want to wear a certain costume that has a zipper, a low-profile rounded zipper that is taped over is acceptable. Generally speaking, sequins are fine, but no rhinestones with prongs.
You may want to buy a plain costume, such as a leotard and leggings, and then dress it up a little to match the style of your song. Non-bleeding fabric paints, puffy paints, fabric trims, and appliques are all tools that could be utilized.
3) We HIGHLY recommend you utilize leotards, biketards, or unitards. Regular shirts and tops have a way of un-tucking even if they are close fitting.
4) Pay attention to what fabric the costume is made of. Spandex is usually too slippery. Costumes that are mostly cotton tend to work best with the silks.
Here is a list of places I have found appropriate costumes, or elements of costumes. It is not an exhaustive list. I will add to it as I find more, so if you find another resource you find helpful, please share!
-Our local Walmart sells some basic ballet leotards in black and ballet pink. They also sell a few gymnastic leotards, but I have not found the selection to be very good.
-Amazon. I have found very affordable appropriate leotards, biketards, and unitards, as well as leggings and dance tights, including body tights. Don’t go for the shiny spandex leotards, etc. As mentioned above, they are usually much too slippery. Also check for reviews that say it is see-through, since that is something we want to avoid. I have found Capezio to be a good brand. Searching for “dance costume” can bring up some helpful results as well. Body suits can be another option, but be aware that if you use that search term, some of the product images that come up are rather indecent.
-Online dance supply websites such as https://www.discountdance.com/ or https://www.dancewearsolutions.com/ Sometimes they have some good clearance sales.
-I have found some well-priced appliques at https://www.gloryshouse.com/, They have sales from time to time, and coupons for email subscribers. Of course you could also look at local craft stores etc. for other trimming supplies.
-There are places that sell aerial-specific costumes, but generally speaking I have found them to be rather pricey. Etsy is one website I have found aerial specific clothing.
I know this may seem like a lot to think about and rather complicated, but I assure you it does not need to be complicated, nor do you need to spend a lot of money! Sometimes a simple, solid colored costume is all that’s needed. We do hope you will have fun with it, and feel free to be creative!
