<p>Thank you in advance for your advice and suggestions. My s is off to CMU MT pre-college in two weeks. It is a six week program. He will have plenty of solid Tee shirts and loose jazz pants. What I am unsure of is the number of "dance belts", ballet tights to pack. Should I order the snug dancer briefs for under the jazz pants? Should he have a spare pair of jazz shoes? My son has not taken formal dance classes, so I am at a loss. I am also aware that he may not do laundry as often as I would advise.....</p>
<p>My S is a dancer. He typically wears loose basketball shorts or cutoff sweats for rehearsals and classes (with a white t shirt). If the teacher is “formal”, he might wear jazz pants. He also usually wears compression shorts or briefs. He only wears dance belts for performances - he has one white and one black depending on the costume. And he would never wear tights unless it was part of a costume - lol. I would think one pair of jazz shoes would be fine. S wears holes in his pretty quickly, but for a six week program for a beginner, it should be fine. Also, tube socks are nice to have for practicing turns, etc. Knee pads are also nice (like for volleyball). Just trying to think of what he carries in his dance bag. Tuck a couple dryer sheets into the bag to keep everything fresh.</p>
<p>Thank you for the tip off about compression shorts! I am following the CMU list for “appropriate” dance attire, so I guess they are looking for a more formal look. Maybe they’ll change the list when they see my 5’11", 200lb son in his ballet tights!</p>
<p>I re-read my last post and I hope it did not come off as disparaging of my son’s body type!
He is very comfortable in his skin, and we are happy that he is pursuing MT.</p>
<p>As the mom of a 5’10" 225-lb ex-football player, I LOVED your post and completely got it! He hasn’t needed any dance gear other than compression shorts and baggy gym shorts but will be in daily dance classes as an acting major next year at Otterbein, so we are wondering about the same stuff. I was thinking you might want to post your question in the CMU subforum with a subject line specifying pre-college–I bet somebody whose kid attended in the past will be able to help you out, but a more obvious label might attract their attention. ActingDad, who posts both here and in the drama-acting forum, had a daughter who attended CMU precollege for acting last summer, and she might be able to ask some guy friends from there. It’s a great program–he’ll love it, all 200 pounds of him!</p>
<p>Hi, entertainersmom, and get ready for your son to have a life-changing experience! My son did the CMU program 2 years ago, and LOVED it. More importantly, it helped him make his decision about what he wanted to pursue in college.</p>
<p>My son, too, had minimal dance experience, and we followed the guidelines CMU provided pretty strictly. There was one teacher that insisted on tights and plain white t-shirts only, while the others would allow for colored, thought plain, shirts. As I recall, they really did want tights for ballet and jazz pants for jazz. Dance belts or compression shorts are a must for both, as too much shows even in jazz pants. We bought two sets, and my son washed about once a week. He had enough shirts that he wore a different one every day, and two pairs of tights and pants. One pair of shoes , ballet and jazz, were enough.</p>
<p>Thank you everyone for the help and suggestions. I have bought the multi-pack of white
t-shirts. We went out yesterday to get the compression shorts.
I mentioned to my S that pre-college may show him he doesn’t want to pursue MT. He just laughed and told me that wouldn’t happen. We then talked about how great it is to know what you want to do in college and life. I’m feeling pretty good, despite the uncertain future ahead.</p>
<p>About a week before my S left for the BU precollege program, he told me he was worried he’d get there and find out he’d made a big mistake. We had a good conversation about how it’d be better to find out during a summer program than after (or even in the midst of) spending a year and a fortune traveling around for auditions…or worse, getting into a BFA and hating it after freshman year. To me, this–along with seeing where you stand amid a larger pool of potential applicants–is a major reason for doing a summer program. Happy to say my son loved his 5 weeks of immersion and is happily heading to school in August with confidence. Yep, it’s uncertain, but any path is, really! Hope you and your son enjoy the process–it definitely sounds like you will, just from what you’ve posted! :D</p>
<p>Yes, it was the uncertainties of the career path that concerned my son, too, but being completely immersed in the art helped him see how much he loved it. Also, that he was finally surrounded by people like himself, and he felt very much at home. He also realized there were other career options there besides performing, which helped him feel more comfortable about being able to find a job.</p>
<p>My S is very excited, and I know he will be in 7th Heaven to be among other young adults who are dedicated to a life in the theatre. It will be a great opportunity for him to see what kind of talent is out there and how he measures up. We think he is talented, but it is important to know what professionals think. We are in the hinterlands (Maine), so it will be great for him to be with kids from all over the country.</p>