How to Keep Your Costume Sweat-Free | Pro Tip from Melody Staples Hammell

Our current Featured Guest Melody Staples Hammell is a former principal dancer with Charleston Ballet Theater. We asked her to share some pro tips that she learned during her extensive career.

Melody says:

Okay, gross confession: I sweat, a lot. I would start sweating with pliés and it didn’t stop all day. I would sweat in my costumes during dress rehearsal and the costume would still be wet when I went to put it on for the first performance. And, of course, it never dried out in between performances. So gross.

But then, I stumbled on the idea of wearing a very thin, nude leotard under my costumes. It absorbed at least some sweat and because I had enough nude leotards for one for each performance, the material next to my skin was dry and clean every performance! These are also referred to as under leotards and the best kind don’t have thick seams or leg elastic and have an adjustable back (allowing you to change the shape of the back of the leotard so it doesn’t show above the costume).

Side note: I also found that body stocking/full body tights did not work well for this as they are too thin and I found them to be uncomfortable.