You’ll never forget the moment you were told you were ready to enter a dance competition. You feel proud that your teacher thinks you’re good enough to take part. Excitement and nerves are inevitable, as you consider the prospect of dancing in front of the judges. The last thing on your mind is the cost of your dress. Dance competition dresses are expensive, no matter what your style of dancing.
You’ll hear arguments from many dance genres as to which has the most costly outfits, but it also depends to some extent on what level of competition you’re in.
Long, heavily embellished ballroom gowns are probably the highest cost competition dresses, due to the yards of material and pounds of Swarovksi crystals used to make them. Top quality professional bellydance dresses come second, because belly dancers use just as many beads and crystals, but a lot less material. Bringing up the rear are Latin and Street Latin dresses, which are often covered in “bling” but are also extremely brief!
Of course, it’s not just the materials used that determine the price. Designing and putting together a dance costume requires specialist skills. Just have a dance dress made by a regular dressmaker, and see how it turns out! Dance costumes need to be slim fitting while still allowing the dancer to move freely. High street dressmakers don’t have the skills to achieve that. It’s only fair to expect to pay a premium for a competition dress which has been made by a really good dance dressmaker.
The other thing to think about is design. If you want something unusual or original, you must expect to pay the designer who took the trouble to create it. For instance, you will pay a high price for the latest bellydance dress from the top Egyptian designers, even though the current fashion means they’re not heavily embellished. It’s the artistry you’re paying for.
We’d all like to think that only your dance ability counts in a dance comp – but we all know different!. Perhaps it shouldn’t, but it’s human nature for judges to be influenced by how good you look. So it may well be worth investing in a ‘wow factor’ competition dress.
Of course, you can achieve originality by making your own competition dress – but don’t even think about it, unless you’re experienced at dressmaking. Do you have the expertise to achieve a perfect finish? Can you face the hours it will take to sew or glue on all those crystals and rhinestones. With all the good quality, well-priced competition dresses on offer from suppliers in China, you have to ask whether it’s worth devoting all that time to doing it yourself.
When buying online, always check references and always check the actual measurements of the dress. Not everyone likes eBay, but I find it a great place to buy because you can check the seller’s feedback rating. To be on the safe side, look for power sellers with a feedback rating of over 98%.
