geschrieben von Dr. Dancebelt  am 12.06. um 00:48:18

Although we now think of the pouch and thong model dance belt as the standard, that design only goes back about 25 years.  Prior to the mid 1970s, dance belts featured thick (5") industrial elastic waistbands with a single piece of non-stretchable, almost canvas-like fabric attached front and rear.  That flat piece was about 6" wide in front, narrowing to about 2.5" between the legs, then widening again to about 3.5" at the rear waist attachment point.

Anybody who complains about the comfort of a modern dance belt should be forced to take class in one of the old ones!  The flat front panel had zero accomodation for male anatomy, which led to the nickname "nutcracker".  Since it was flat, an errant testicle could sometimes escape, with nasty consequences.  Although the rear piece was too wide to be considered a thong, it would inevitably migrate between butt cheeks into wedgie position.  The waistband rode too high, acting as a stomach girdle in addition to athletic support.  Manufacturers claimed this helped male dancers avoid hernias lifting ballerinas.  

The doctor has no idea when the model just described was invented (guessing at least pre World War 2), but it was the standard for long enough that virtually every old ballet book that discusses male dancewear has a description or picture of one, with a caveat to "wear the wide part in front"  One famous dancer's book, describing his childhood in a small town in Texas, recalls receiving his first dance belt by mail order and wearing it backwards.  That would be pretty hard to do with a thong!

The 1970s marked a period of experimentation and new dance belt designs. Modern stretch fabrics coming on the market enabled manufacturers to try to find more comfortable yet effective alternatives.  -Les Steinhart replaced the front and rear part of the waistband with a stretchable nylon fabric.  The sides were still wide industrial elastic. -Danskin's model 1100 was made entirely of stretchable polymide nylon with the first introduction of Lycra.  The rear was still wider than a thong, but narrower (2.75") than anything previously sold. -Circa 1976, Capezio finally recognized that even a 2" wide rear was excessive and introduced the first pure thong dance belt.  The thong was covered with a soft furry material and the pouch was extremely stretchable.-Danskin followed with a narrow waist, thong back model.  Wendy Knit was the first to offer a dance belt with the 3" waistband, pouch, and thong back that became the new standard design.

If any reader can add to this attempt at dance belt history, please e-mail the doctor!  Pictures of several of the dance belts described are also available.