Best Dance Briefs For Juniors To Wear Under Costumes

Dance briefs should be comfortable, easy to care for and allow for full range of motion. Here are some junior sized garments for dance or cheer in a large variety of colors.

What's small and mostly hidden, but very important nonetheless? For a dancer or cheerleader, it can be her dance briefs. Dance briefs don't seem like a big deal, but the right pair are a must if you want to be free to move, bend and jump in total security and comfort. There are different brands and fabric blends to choose from depending on your needs.

For the most part, these garments come in three styles; traditional lightweight, full-coverage brief-trunks and boy-leg low or high rise. Dancers, yoga students, cheerleaders, gymnasts and even costume makers wear them for sport and fun.

The Purpose Of Dance Briefs

Dance briefs, or trunks as they are also called, have several functions. Because they are much like the bottom half of a leotard, they are used for :

Mixing and matching with uniforms or unique costumes.
Providing coverage and modesty while dancing or cheer leading in short skirts.
Freedom of movement that calls for a clingy, yet elastic garment.

Dance briefs are worn under cheer uniforms

Cheer Competition

The true purpose of this garment is to function much like a leotard, but without the limits of an attached top portion.

Boy leg dance shorts for cheer

With permission of Discount Dance Sup...

Popular Brands And Styles For Juniors

There are two different types of briefs that are used in the junior circuits; the basic half-a-leotard bottom and the boy cut shorts type. These days, many of the briefs available for juniors are created in the hip-hugger style that sits a few inches below the natural waistline.

You can see how cute these would look under a dance costume or cheer outfit. Not only does the style, price, color and fit matter with young people on the go, so does the wear-ability factor. The shorts style can be seen more and more in professional competitions.

You can view these and the entire color selection of boy leg shorts at Discount Dance Supply

Sports-minded junior girls get double duty from dance shorts. After practice, they can pop on a tee shirt and head out for pizza or to the mall.

Any undergarment for a leotard would have to be thin and form-fitting.

Jenny Hackwell wearing Bloch leotard

Choosing A Style To Wear Under A Ballet Costume

Do ballet dancers wear these garments under their leotards or tutus? Typically, a ballet student will worry about undergarments when she is first starting to train. A professional ballet academy will require that the instructor be able to see all the lines of the body.

Eventually, a ballet dancer will only wear a thong or nothing at all under a leotard or a tutu. In the meantime, a lightweight brief worn under a leotard will give a beginner a feeling of security and modesty.

Double layering a leotard-like panty under a leotard is pretty much like wearing underwear, the only benefit being you can get a perfect color match if that is what you are after.

Basic Lightweight Briefs

Lightweight, body-hugging trunks or briefs are a popular choice because they provide full coverage in the back to prevent ugly lines. They fit like a glove, but the stretch makes them comfortable. Although the Capezio briefs featured here look like hip-huggers on the model, they are a full-rise garment made to hug the natural waist.

The briefs featured here come in 9 shades; black, white, red, royal blue, navy blue, ballet pink, nude, baby blue and maroon. The baby blue shade is really pretty.

Cool and comfortable

Capezio Women's Brief,Black,Medium

Capezio

~~$14.0~~ $13.9

View on Amazon

Extra Coverage, Thicker Construction

100% Stretch Nylon Cheerleading Brief Trunks, Youth Mediu...

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Full Cut Briefs

Dance briefs can be worn by anyone in any sport or performing art. Thicker bottoms with a little more fabric allow more room for wearing underwear and tights underneath. The slightly thicker fabric is still stretchy and comfortable, but feels like it "covers" more.

A dancer or cheerleader needs to feel comfortable performing in front of crowds. Who wants to worry about whether people can see through your briefs when you are doing leg kicks and back flips?

Fuller and thicker briefs are also great if you need them for a bottom half of a Halloween costume. It can get awfully chilly out there when the frost is on the pumpkin!

Wonder Woman Costume

You Don't Have To Be A Dancer To Wear These Garments

Surprisingly, these garments work for anyone who needs a bottom that matches a costume idea. Because dance briefs come in so many colors, they are perfect for the DIY costume crowd. If your costume has a different top and bottom color like Wonder Woman here, you don't have to worry about chopping up a leotard and sewing down a waistband.

Hot glue a few stars to your briefs, and your bottom half is done.

Do Dance Briefs Ever Take The Place Of Underwear?

I suppose they could as that is a personal choice. However, most people wear dance trunks as an extra layer of coverage instead of an only layer. The first time I remember learning about these garments was in junior high. It seemed like every girl in my neighborhood wanted to try out for poms, baton, gymnastics or cheer leading. The first thing on the agenda for those girls was to get some trunks for practice. I don't recall anyone wearing them without underwear.

There is another very practical function to these garments:

Have you ever had to run to the ladies room when the urge hits suddenly, but you are wearing a full leotard and tights? The wrestling match that ensues trying to peel it off before the unthinkable happens is something you can avoid with a brief.

It may not sound so special, but for an athletic event when a bathroom trip has to be done lightning fast, it makes a huge difference.

Caring For Your Briefs

Most dance trunks are made using a polyester spandex blend fabric, or stretch nylon. To squeeze the maximum amount of life from nylon fabric think "cool". Leotard-type garments are much like hosiery and need the same delicate care.

Dance briefs are best hand-washed in lukewarm suds, blotted, then allowed to air dry. The colors will stay vibrant longer and the fibers will maintain their elasticity.

Lightweight Briefs: Ballet practice, lyrical, modern, aerobics

Thicker Briefs: Cheer, track and field, gymnastics, volleyball

Dance Shorts: Cheer, biking, ice skating, softball practice, soccer practice, basketball, hip hop, jazz, weight training

Image Credits

1. Cheer Competition, Pixabay.com 2. Boy Leg Dance Short, Discount Dance Supply by permission 3.Jenny Hackwell wearing Bloch leotard, By www.dancewearcentral.co.uk [CC BY 2.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0)], via Wikimedia Commons 4. Flickr.com, Wonder Woman Costume by Sam Howsit, No Modifications, https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/2.0/