You know the T-Shirt As Shrug look? The thing where you’re wearing a t-shirt over your leotard, and you take the front and pull it up and over and behind your head, so it turns into an insta-shrug?
First time the Adult Beginner ever saw this Phenomenon Of Dance Wear was while fitting a hip-hop dancer for a concert tour. He kept shrug-a-fying the shirt of his costume, playing with different ways to wear it during the run, while I was trying not to giggle. But it was really funny! I mean, he was a man! And he was wearing a shrug! With nothing under! He was a shirtless man wearing a Man-Shrug!
Have seen many many more examples of this sort of clothing re-allocation since I began taking ballet.
Compliment the girl next to you at the barre on her cute cropped sweater? She’ll thank you and tell you that she made it just the night before out of some old leggings and a hair-tie.
There is a MacGyver-like level of ingenuity going on in dance warm-up clothes, as well as a frugal, recycling vibe that is very pleasing to the penny-pinching tree-hugger in me.
Which brings us up to this little scenario: there I am, in the middle of sorting through clothes to send to the Goodwill, paused with a pair of woolen knee-socks in hand, thinking, “wait- Cut out the feet and you’ve got yourself some arm-warmers up in here.” and then thinking, “what am I, a hobo?! No! Normal people do not wear old hacked-up socks on their arms!”
And then kept on sorting.
But!
Haven’t taken the bag of clothes to the donation center just yet.
I take old tights with runs and holes in them and make short warmup ‘sweaters.’ I cut out the crotch to make an opening for my head and cut the feet for my arms. It’s weird at first, but those suckers keep me warm.
Ha! That’s awesome! Hmm, sounds like a good use for bright colored street wear tights too
Actually, if you cut open the socks along the heel and toe seams, what you have is a nice pair of stirrup legwarmers.
Filing this away in the ol’ mind files for next time