Girls' Fashion

Leotards, slippers and the dance bag, each in its own place:

a girl’s ballet kit splits across the three branches of girls’ fashion. The leotard, tights, wrap cardigan and tutu go in girls’ clothing, next to the school uniform and the communion dress. Slippers and pointe shoes go in girls’ shoes, and bun nets, hairpins and the bag that carries it all in girls’ accessories. Black and white canvas slippers also turn up in boys’ fashion, since boys in the same class wear the same shoe in a darker colour.

Ballet classes in Costa Rica and the kit they ask for:

the class itself is often the cheap part. The Taller Nacional de Danza in Barrio Escalante runs children’s ballet courses, Escazú’s municipal arts school teaches it level by level, and the Ballet Nacional has opened a free pre-professional programme for older children there. The teacher still sets the kit, often down to the leotard colour for each level, so ask before buying anything. Beginners are usually put in full-sole leather slippers, which make the foot work harder and last longer; split-sole canvas comes later, when the teacher asks for it. A slipper should fit snugly with the toes lying flat and no room to grow, and the size inside rarely matches a street shoe and changes from one model to the next, so have her try a pair on rather than trusting the number. Leotards are cut by girth, measured from the top of the shoulder down between the legs and back up, which tells you far more than the age on the label. Plain girls’ leotards start a little above ₡10,000 new and pink ballet tights cost about half that, so a used leotard saves little on its own and a good deal more when it comes with tights in the right colour for the level. The real money is in pieces bought once and outgrown fast: leather slippers from Bloch or Capezio, and recital costumes made for a single show, which can cost more than the everyday class kit put together and often come back almost unworn.

Second-hand leotards, slippers and pointe shoes:

each one wears out in its own place. On a leotard, stretch the leg openings: elastic that stays wavy has gone, and fabric worn shiny or thin across the seat has spent a long time on the studio floor. Turn a slipper over and look under the ball of the foot and the big toe, where holes start, then check whether the elastics have been resewn, a sign it has been through more than one girl. Fluff a tutu’s net with your hand: layers that stay flat after storage rarely stand out properly again. Pointe shoes are the one thing not to buy worn. They are fitted to one dancer’s foot and the box and shank soften as she dances, so a used pair seldom suits anyone else; the pair worth having is one that never left the box, in the size and model her teacher has approved.

Recital costumes, outgrown slippers and the rest of the dance bag:

put up the set rather than the pieces. Name the level or course it was bought for and the leotard colour, give the girth measurement and the slipper brand, model and size, and say whether the sole is full or split. Photograph slippers from underneath and leotards laid flat in daylight, where the true colour shows. A recital costume moves best soon after the show, complete with its headpiece and the tights it was matched to, while the next group is still looking. A mother coming from Moravia to collect one for a different academy’s show will want the chest and girth measured on the costume itself, because stage costumes are often sewn to fit one girl and carry no size label at all.