Affiliate disclosure: As an Amazon Associate, BORN Dance Academy earns from qualifying purchases. Recommendations are Erin's own, and the price you pay is exactly the same.
Acro is the cheapest class to kit out, because there is no shoe to buy. It is danced in clean bare feet, and that is not a shortcut, it is the requirement.
What shoes do you wear for acro?
None. Acro is danced barefoot so the foot can grip the floor and the toes can spread and balance. Any shoe, and any sock, removes exactly the grip the class depends on.
At BORN the dress code is clean bare feet. Some studios permit grip socks; check yours before assuming either way.
Studios that allow socksVarious
Non-Slip Grip Socks
- Check your dress code
- $
Erin says Worth saying plainly: acro at BORN is danced in clean bare feet, so you do not need these here. Some studios do allow grip socks, and some dancers prefer them on a cold floor. Check your own dress code before buying.
Sizing Ordinary sock sizing. Buy the multipack, because they disappear.
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Why does acro have to be barefoot?
Because the whole class rests on being able to feel and grip the floor. A cartwheel, a handstand or a walkover all start from the foot pushing into the ground, and a sock slides at precisely the wrong moment.
Bare feet also let a teacher see what the foot is doing, which is how bad habits get caught before they become injuries.
What do you wear to acro class?
A leotard, or a fitted top with fitted shorts. The important word is fitted: anything loose falls over the dancer’s face the moment they invert, and a teacher spotting a skill needs to see the body line.
Convertible tights are useful here if your dancer has ballet in the same evening, because they can pull the foot out for acro without changing.
Multiple classes in one nightVarious
Convertible and Transition Ballet Tights
- Meets BORN dress code
- $
Erin says Convertible tights are the ones worth having. Your dancer can go footed for ballet and bare for acro without changing tights between classes, which saves a scramble on a busy evening.
Sizing Sized by height and weight, not by shoe size. If your child sits between two sizes, take the larger. Tights that are too short pull down and get tugged at all class.
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Should my child wear jewellery to acro?
No. Stud earrings only, and nothing on the wrists or neck. Anything that dangles is a hazard when a dancer is upside down, and rings scratch both the floor and the dancer.
Anything else worth having?
Short nails, hair properly secured rather than in a loose ponytail, and a water bottle. Acro is more tiring than it looks from the side of the room.