Dance Costumes for Ballet, Lyrical, Jazz, Tap, Hip Hop

When a dance is to be performed, whether at a concert, recital or competition, for solo, duo or a team, a very important aspect of the performance are the dance costumes.

Time and thought will be put into creating and designing the perfect dance costume to fit the particular dance, dance style and music.

Each dance style has traditional and modern styles and materials, and from there the creative skills of the dance teacher or costume designers unfold.

Some dance schools will have all the costumes made by one dressmaker, whilst others may let you have the option of making it yourself, provided you have a certain amount of dressmaking skills. The teacher will usually want to see it once finished for final approval.

Boy Dancer in Costume One job that many parents will have is to sew on accessories, mostly sequins. If its for a group dance, you will have precise instructions on where to attach them. It is easy to learn how to sew on sequins.

If you are looking for ways to spruce up a costume for a competition for either a solo/duo/trio, there are many accessories available which transform a costume from ordinary to a glittering showpiece.

Check back regularly as we update this page with a gallery of some examples of sequins and accessories.

Dance Costume Styles

Classical Ballet Costumes

Ballerina in Pink Tutu Classical ballet dances are danced to classical music.

It is a slower, more controlled dance with most emphasis on the technique.

Ballerina's will wear a tutu, either with the stiff skirt or the softer, flowing Romantic tutu.

Lyrical Ballet Costumes

Neo Classical dancer in White Costume Ballet costumes are worn for Neo Classical, Lyrical or Slow Modern dance.

These dances are more softer and flowing, they dance to a wider range of music, and a wide range of styles. Read more about Lyrical Dance Costumes.

Check out our Lyrical Ballet Costumes Gallery

Jazz Dance Costumes

Jazz Dancer in Red Costume Jazz costumes are designed to be as flexible as possible to allow the most stretching and energetic dancing.

They need to be fun and funky, shiny and vibrant to complement the energy of the dance and most of all, they need to be striking on stage.

Hip Hop Costumes

Hip Hop dance comes from the streets and the costumes reflect this. There is a definite style to hip hop costumes, one of the most important is they are not so neat and tidy and all dancers in a group are not wearing the same. It is almost the opposite of Jazz costumes. Read on to find out what elements make up Hip Hop Costumes.

Click here for more about Hip Hop Costumes

Check out our Hip Hop Costumes Gallery

Tap Dance Costumes

Tap Dancer in Black Costume Like all clothes, fashion trends come and go and dance costumes also reflect this by its own trends of latest styles. Tap has some traditional costumes styles, whereas some teachers like to bring a modern feel to tap dancing and continue this through to the design of costumes.

Themed Dance Costumes

Themed Dance Costume Hairspray There are always some costumes that don't really fit into the above categories. Maybe they were entered in the novelty or cabaret section of a competition or concert or were part of a themed production number.

There are many national costumes such as Greek, Mexican or Hawaiian used for dance performance.

Check out some really interesting costumes in this category.

Click here to see our Themed Costumes Gallery

Jazz Tap Dance Costume It is important to take care of your costumes.Read these tips to help keep your costume looking like new for longer.

Costumes can be an expensive part of dance, especially if your dancer is involved in performance and competitive dancing, in many styles, a large collection of costumes can soon accumulate.

Considering many costumes are only worn 2 or 3 times it makes sense to try and resell these. You can try a local costume dance store. There are many small dance schools eager to help keep costs down, which will buy up a group's collection of costumes.

Red and Black Tutu If your child is doing a solo/duo/trio, a great idea for a cheap dancing costume is to look for a second hand costume.

ebay is the best marketplace on the web to buy dance costumes. There are so many styles to choose from, they are good quality and at very competitive pricing.
Here are the current listings on ebay! Click on any item or use the search box to find more costumes.

If you're not in the U.S. you can view by clicking here.

Ebay is one of the best places to look for new and second hand costumes, or to sell on your unwanted costumes, to recoup a little of the money, free up some cupboard space and to help raise funds for the next costumes to purchase.