With having dance in between my regular courses, I always look like a bum!

I'll have psychology after ballet where I'm wearing a leotard and tights, or business law after hip hop where I'm in sweats and a baggy shirt.


Sometimes I don't have time to completely change my clothes, it also gets heavy to bring a huge bag everywhere with clothes in it.


What do you guys do? I hate wearing sweats to class!

Today I just put a jersey dress and a sweater over my tights and leo with a pair of boots.

Can you get a locker?

What about wearing leggings and a camisole to your classes (at least in hip hop) so then you can just throw on a sweater dress or something over it and head to class.

Honestly I wish I could help. I had the same dilemma in college. I think I just looked like gym-rat most days and I always had a leo and tights under what I was wearing. I only ever had about 10 min to change (in a dressing room where you had to take turns) and walk all the way across campus so I just wore jeans and sweatshirts or yoga pants and tee shirts. A guy friend of mine actually called it 'my outfit' because I was always wearing the same five dance-friendly outfits. :/

Back in the day, I just wore dance clothes to my other classes. In a typical day, I would teach dance in the morning, then go to a non-dance class, then take a dance class, then take a non-dance class, then teach another dance class, then go to my non-dance job. I did change out of my dance clothes for my non-dance job, but for my non-dance classes, I just couldn't be bothered. In any case, I didn't usually have time to change - even if I had wanted to. Even in high school, I wore dance clothes almost every day. For a few months of my senior year, I was dancing like 50 hours/week (plus school, plus a job). I just didn't have the energy to care what I was wearing.

What do most people wear on your campus? Because on mine, the "cool outfit" (gag) for all the girls to wear consists of leggings, running shorts, XXL hoodless sweatshirts and running shoes (ironically finished off with a ton of makeup and perfectly styled hair). On my campus, you'd look better than all of them BECAUSE of the sweatpants

Anyhow, I'm not trying to downplay your concerns, but you ARE in college. Is it really worth the extra hassle of bringing real clothes? Half my class on any given day is in their sweatpants. Heck, I'm all fancy today because I'm wearing my comfy jeans and an oversized sweater.

Just throw a pair of jeans a shirt in your bag. Certainly you can layer them on top of your tights/leo. On hip hop days, ditch your sweatpants and throw on the jeans real quick.

And to echo Keoka, my college had an identical "uniform" - running shorts, tshirt (fleece or hoodie for the oddball cold days), and running shoes. I ended up going to class often in scrubs because I didn't have time to change before work. Everyone at my school dressed very, very casual. Don't worry about it! We tend to be a bit more dressy in grad school, so save it for then

Well when I was in college I wore jazz pants and a tank to most of my dance classes. So, to my regular classes I wore jazz pants and a shirt. Or if I had ballet, sweat pants over tights and a leo. Put a t-shirt over the leo sometimes. Sometimes I'd bring some jeans with me to change into. But more often than not I had time to go back to my room and change outfits completely (especially my senior year).

Some of the dancers were in a sorority and they were required to be dress up on Wednesdays. Like dress and heels dressed up. They always made it work. They looked sweaty and gross sometimes but they were wearing a dress.

I am so glad I didn't have to do that.

haha, thanks for all the responses!
At my school there's an equal number of sloppy sweats & full make up as with people dressed appropriately. Perhaps even more people are wearing jeans and a shirt, or something fashionable and cute. It's surprising.

I suppose there is really no reason to worry about it, but it still bugs me! We are judged by our appearance, you know? Professors pay attention to it as well. I am treated better when I'm dressed appropriately for class, and don't look like I just rolled out of bed.

I need a label on my forehead "just came from dance, NOT bed. I look tired because my body is exhausted, NOT from binge drinking"

gravitysmiles wrote:



I need a label on my forehead "just came from dance, NOT bed. I look tired because my body is exhausted, NOT from binge drinking"

My school was tiny. All the professors knew who the dancers were.

I honestly don't understand wearing pajamas and slippers to class. When I woke up ten minutes before class I took the two minutes I needed to pull on some pants and a shirt and socks and shoes. It's not hard and I still got to class before it started (the key is using the stairs not the elevator).

I'm of the mind that the perfect place to look like a bum is when you're slumped over in a freezing cold lecture hall with your hoodie and slippers on.

peace out
sh'naynay

I went to a lecture once in pyjamas. *shrug* It's what students do. If you wear a vest top with a wrap cardigan or an off-the shoulder top over the top of the vest, then your look says dancer straight away. Get some diamanted Pineapple tops! Every dancer over here owns Pineapple.

Weird, my professors couldn't care less what we wear, they just care about our performance. The days I do best are the days I don't waste precious sleep time by putting on makeup or doing much with my hair. I can wake up 15 minutes before I need to leave (toss on sweatshirt, yoga pants and uggs, brush teeth/contacts in/deodorant on/hair in ponytail, done) and while I might look sloppy...I'm there, ready to work.

Maybe it's because the tone is sort of set by our sorority girls, who look like huge slobs all the time? It's just a really laid back campus.

gravitysmiles wrote:

haha, thanks for all the responses!


I need a label on my forehead "just came from dance, NOT bed. I look tired because my body is exhausted, NOT from binge drinking"

Maybe I'm overstepping, but the one thing that concerns me about that statement isn't how you look after dance class, but how you feel. Do you feel that you are too exhausted after dancing to go straight to a more traditional academic class and get the most out of it? Is is it possible in the future to have your "classroom classes" in the morning before your dance classes, or have them on different days? That could help solve the clothing problem too.

The lectures directly after dance I am full of energy (although the lack of make up might make me look tired), it's the laaate classes that my school has where I'm tired. I think it's that I'm genuinely tired, not physically tired. My last classes on Tuesday/Thursday end at 9 PM! Thank you for the concern!

My school has a <b>TON</b> of students, and it's a commuter school. Possibly the reasons why most people bother to put on jeans and make up. Majority of the students drive at least 15...20...30 minutes to get there. Also almost everyone works steady jobs, etc. Not really your average college campus.