Have you seen our amazing new merchandise?
We are so excited to add more new uniform items to our beautiful range and be able to offer our students a complete uniform from top to bottom. Our new Bike shorts and Hot Shorts look fantastic!
It's that time of the year, now that all of our students new and existing have settled into their 2021 classes, where teachers will begin to check student's uniform and hair when they arrive to class. This is to ensure that each student is in the correct apparel and shoes, as well as wearing their hair correctly for the class they are taking. We can't believe we're already heading in to Week 4!
All students, new and existing, will need to double check our 2021 Uniform Guide and ensure they are up to date with everything they need for all classes! This may mean purchasing a pair of leggings or shorts to complete your dancers full uniform. Students are given three weeks from their first class to get into all the correct uniform as well as the correct footwear. So what can you do to ensure your dancer is ready to go for their classes?
GROOMING Good grooming is a fundamental part of the discipline of dance, and we're not just talking about Ballet! Whilst all our classical ballet students are expected to wear their hair in a bun (with hair nets and bun pins) to class every week, we strongly encourage all our dancers to consider a bun as part of their uniform for all their classes. Our second preferred hairstyle for all other classes is a neat ponytail. Students with exceptionally long hair should consider a bun for Acro classes for the safety of both the student and the teacher. These hairstyles should be neat with all hair off the face! (Neat front fringes accepted) Hairspray isn't just great for concert time... Messy hair can hugely affect your child’s participation and learning in class. Your dancer is already hard at work in class trying to learn how to use their heads and eyes to spot so that they are turning safely and correctly. Imagine trying to concentrate on a new turn and having to worry about hair flicking you in the face and whispy bits getting stuck in your eyes! Heavy ponytails, pig tails and braids can also weigh your dancer down, and in turn cause them to develop bad habits when they are dancing such as spotting incorrectly, not using their heads properly and constantly touching their hair as they dance. Muscle memory applies to both correct technique and incorrect. If your dancer is reaching up to tuck a piece of hair behind their ear every couple of minutes in class, we can guarantee no matter how slick their hair is on stage - you will see a hand reach up to their ear mid routine!
Good grooming also allows our qualified and experienced teachers to observe the line of the head, neck and shoulders of our students so that they have the correct posture and alignment.
Help your dancer prepare for class each week by keeping a small kit full of hair ties, bun nets, bun pins, bobby pins and a brush/comb in their dance bag. If they are old enough, teach your child to do their own bun! If we can see an attempt has been made by the dancer themselves to do their own hair for dance, we are happy to jump in and assist if the style then falls out during class.
UNIFORM
Now that we are past the first three weeks of Term 1, students will be expected to adhere to our uniform guidelines as laid out in our 2021 Uniform Guide.
To compliment your dancer's neat hair, their dance uniform should also be tidy! All uniform pieces should be kept in good condition, laundered, and repaired when necessary.
Have you ever dressed up for a job interview, or a special occasion and noticed you stood up straighter, pulled your shoulders back, and really felt the part? This applies to your dancer and their uniform as well! When your child is dressed in the correct uniform, and looks and feels like a dancer, they will absolutely dance better and more confidently then they would if they were wearing uncomfortable and inappropriate clothing, dirty leggings and shoes with holes in them. We also consider our Bound Dance uniform, a team uniform! So with that comes a sense of pride for your dancer when they are wearing their Turquoise! #teamturquoise #bounddancefamily
Alongside our compulsory Bound Dance crops, leotards, leggings and shorts - we also offer a fantastic range of optional Bound Dance merchandise including tanks, jackets, and socks! Your dancer can mix & match their favourite pieces for most classes and still be in correct uniform. Please refer to our 2021 Uniform Guide for information on what items are permitted in which dance classes.
Fitted dancewear is essential to your dancers training as it allows your child's teachers to be able to see and correct your child's technique. Correct technique is important for all our dancers, not only to allow them to become the best dancers they can be but to protect them from injury as well. Our high quality, Australian Made uniform is also designed to withstand the physicality of a dance class and not fall apart. Remember your dancer is learning to stretch, kick, turn and jump! Items that are not a part of our uniform and that should be left at home are watches, fitbits, necklaces and large hoops/dangling earrings. These items can injure not only your own dancer if they get caught, but other students and our teachers as well - especially in Acro! We may ask your dancer to remove these items of jewellery in class, which may mean they get left behind - particularly if your dancer has not brought along their own dance bag. The best option is to remind your child to remove these things before they walk out the door to come to dance class.
Help your dancer prepare their uniform each week by assisting them in laying out their uniform and packing their dance bag the night before class. It is not a bad thing to instil a sense of responsibility in your dancer to ensure they have remembered everything they need to wear for class! A checklist on their bedroom door (Eg Tights, Leotard, Skirt, Jacket, Hair Kit, Ballet Shoes, Water Bottle) can help them learn to bring everything they need themselves each lesson. We can't wait to see our dancers looking and feeling the part in our new uniform range!
If you have misplaced your copy of our Uniform Guidelines, our 2021 Uniform Guide can be found here on the Uniform page of our website. Bec & Mikkayla Directors Bound Dance
A variation of this blog post was originally published on February 25 2019 to our former bounddance.com.au website.