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NEW COMFORT KINGS:
- Body Wrappers M007 narrow waist ProBelt
- Mariia narrow waist “Kamil"
- Dance Jox
- WearMoi 131 narrow waist
MAXIMUM SECURITY & SUPPORT:
- Capezio 5930 quilted
- Body Wrappers M006 wide waist ProBelt
- WearMoi 206 wide waist
- DansEZ padded (available only in the U.K.)
MEDIUM SUPPORT:
- Body Wrappers M003
- Capezio N26
- DansEZ plain (available only in the U.K.)
- Bloch 3124 seamless
LIGHTWEIGHT SUPPORT:
- MStevens 1007
- Bloch 3914
- Baltogs CL87
BEST FOR BOYS:
- Body Wrappers M007 narrow waist ProBelt
- WearMoi 131 narrow waist
- MStevens 1007
The Capezio quilted dance belt has been the professional dancer’s go-to standard for at least the last 25 years. It performs a dance belt’s primary function of creating no-shift security extremely well, but I never liked its comfort, and throughout my dance career have always searched for better alternatives.
WearMoi might be the first dance belt actually designed by a male dancer. First available in the U.S. only from a strange little Asian importer in San Francisco, it took off when online retailer boysdancetoo became its champion. The narrow waist-band model quickly became the acknowledged comfort favorite. Other than WearMoi, dance belt technology stood still for many years.
Then came the “Billy Elliott” effect.
Following the movie, more guys are took up dance than ever before, creating opportunity for dancewear manufacturers.
In 2013 Body Wrappers set out to create the best dance belt ever by combining their fabric and fabrication expertise with real-world testing and feedback from real dancers.
The result: Body Wrappers ProBelts.
Full disclosure: they asked me to participate in the year-long design process, along with Robbie Fairchild of NYCB, five other professional dancers, and a teenager who wore a beta test model all week to a summer intensive. ProBelts reflect many of my personal dance belt preferences and prejudices.
Then, in June 2014, the comfort battle become a 3-way race. Tom Kilps, First Soloist at Texas Ballet Theatre began selling his new Dance Jox model. Rather than rely on outside testers, he developed the new design based on his own wishlist for the perfect dance belt. Other male dancers at Texas Ballet Theatre helped him fine tune his design.
In 2016, the latest entrant, Mariia, introduced their “Kamil” model, which might be the best lightweight, minimalist dance belt ever, making it perfect for costumes and sports.
