Hey

Is dancing in socks a thing now? I went to a competition this weekend and so many contemporary dancers were socks as shoes

Hahaha ugghhhh the dancing in socks thing pisses me off to no end!

I think a lot of dancers pretend that it’s just an aesthetic preference but really 100% honestly it’s a crutch.

To me it comes from over-reliance on socks in the classroom. They shouldn’t be allowed, even in the classroom. Dancers like socks because they’re like turning boards — they allow them a low-friction surface to do things like turns more easily. Unfortunately (and this is why a lot of dance teachers also don’t like turning boards) they don’t teach dancers to rely on their own strength and the propulsion of their take-off, so that never improves.

I actually used to fight constantly with my own dance students because not only would they dance in socks when they were supposed to be wearing jazz shoes in my leaps and turns classes, they’d actually run to the side of the room to take their socks ON AND OFF depending on their skill and I’m like “Really? You really think an audition judge is going to allow you to say, ‘wait a minute, I have to put my sock on before I do this turn’?”

Lemme put it this way: Gelsey Kirkland probably never danced in her fucking socks.