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For serious teen or adult ballet dancers who attend classes and rehearsals multiple days a week, having the best bag is an absolute must.
In addition to carrying all of your shoes, extra tights or leos, hair products, foot care or first aid kit, your street clothes with shoes, stretch bands or trainers and everything else you could possibly need, the bag has to help you organize all of this stuff so you can actually find what you need quickly and so that you don’t end up with only one left ballet slipper. Not only does this bag need to fit all of your stuff in an organized way, it has to be durable enough to withstand being lugged back and forth nearly every day.
The cute little “Tutu Tote” that carried only your ballet slippers to your once a week Pre-Ballet class when you were four will no longer do the job. Instead, advanced or professional dancers need something like our top pick, the Adidas Sport2Street Tote or the Runetz Gym Bag. Read on to discover how to choose the best ballet bag for you and to take a quick look at our top 5 five ballet bags for teens and adults.
Want it now? Skip reading and check out our top choice!
How to Choose the Best Ballet Bag
When choosing the best ballet bag, you’ll need to consider a few things like size, organizational capabilities, durability and style (you wouldn’t want your ballet bag to look like a 4-year-old’s “tutu tote” or have the word “DANCE” in large, hot pink letters stretching across the side of your bag).
Size
First, you’ll need to decide what size of bag you need. It needs to be big enough to carry everything you need for your everyday classes and rehearsals, but you don’t want something so large that your stuff “floats” around inside or that is super heavy and strains your neck or back while carrying it. You’ll also want to consider how far you have to carry your bag. If you ride the subway or walk to the studio, you might want to consider a bag that converts to a backpack like the Crowd Designz Smart Gym Bag.
Storage
Next you’ll want to consider how many pockets or compartments the bag has to keep smaller items organized. Some of the bags, like the Adidas Studio Duffel Bag come with separate shoe compartments that could keep wet or muddy street shoes off the studio floor or the compartment could be used to store wet, dirty or stinky laundry and let’s face it, dancers can really stink! (However, you would never want to store your pointe shoes in a designated shoe compartment. To find out why, read our article on proper care of pointe shoes and our top picks for pointe shoe bags here.)
You might also want to consider if the bag has an easy access pocket for your water bottle or cell phone. Most advanced dancers are also required to take a conditioning or pilates class and so a bag like the Fuel Sport Carryall Duffel that can also carry your mat is ideal. If any of our top five bags still don’t have enough pockets to organize all of your stuff, check out our article on the best ways to organize your ballet bag here and to see a list of essential items you’ll need.
Durability
Durability is also an important factor to consider when choosing the best ballet bag. The bag should be made of a durable, yet light-weight fabric with reinforced stitching in high stress areas (like handles). The hardware should also be super strong and able to handle the weight of a fully loaded bag and the stress of everyday use.
So many of the bags made by well-known ballet brands were not durable enough to include on our top 5 ranked dance bags. Although the big brands make fantastic shoes, tights, leotards, etc…, many of them disappoint when it comes to bags. All of the bags included in our top 5 list were chosen for their durability and a few even have lifetime warranties.
Appearance
In addition to being durable, most of the bags on our list come in a variety of solid colors and prints as well as different shapes. They are a long way from the old school gym duffels of the past. The Adidas Sport 2 Street Tote, our top pick, doesn’t scream “gym bag” and lives up to its name. Not only is it a very functional dance or workout bag, but it’s also a very chic way to carry all of your necessities to and from the studio or gym. Whether you want your bag to make a statement or you want your bag to understated and classy is a matter of choice. However, within our list of top five, you’ll find plenty of options when it comes to style.
Top 5 Ballet & Dance Bags Summary
We’ve put several top selling items to the test and compiled a summary of our findings below. If you’re looking for the best, one of these should fit the bill. Continue reading to see the results of our testing and research.
Adidas Sport to Street Tote
This bag has the look of a tote, but the storage of a duffel. This bag features one large zippered exterior pocket and TWO water bottle pockets with snap closure. Inside the roomy interior, there is a large zippered mesh compartment to store dirty clothes and two other zippered pockets to store everything you can think of.
The bag has two shoulder straps that snap together to prevent straps from falling off your shoulder while you are carrying it. It’s made of durable polyester that’s also washable. The bag comes in a variety of beautiful colors. Check Price on Amazon
Runetz Gym Bag
This is a more traditional duffel bag although it features a ventilated compartment for shoes or dirty/wet laundry. There are also multiple zipped pockets for organization including 3 large exterior, and one small zipped pocket inside perfect to store your keys or phone while you’re in class. Along with dual handles, it has a detachable padded shoulder strap.
The bag is light-weight but made from durable high-grade polyester materials with reinforced stitching. The Runetz bag comes in 2 sizes, but we recommend the XL size because it is roomy enough for all of your stuff measuring at 30 x 14 x 12 inches. It comes in a few different colors and a couple of cute, chevron prints. Check Price on Amazon
Adidas Studio Duffel Bag
This large spacious bag is more like a tote than a duffel. It has two exterior zippered compartments and one is ventilated making it perfect for dirty/wet clothes or shoes. The top of this bag opens up wide for easy access and inside it has one larger, zipped pocket and two smaller mesh pockets. It will also stand tall on it’s own making packing for class much easier and faster.
This polyester bag is built to last and has a lifetime warranty. With two smaller handles and a longer, adjustable shoulder or cross body strap it’s easy to carry this bag. It comes in a variety of stylish colors and the logo is small and discreet. Check Price on Amazon
Crowd Designz Smart Gym Bag
This versatile duffel has 6 fully lined, moisture proof compartments including a ventilated shoe compartment. It also has TWO water bottle holders.The outside also features a criss-crossed bungee strap on top for carrying your mesh pointe-shoe bag or conditioning matt. Inside there is a large mesh divider to keep things separate and a small, mesh, zipped pocket to hold the built-in activated charcoal deodorizer.
The bag measures 22 x 14 x 8.6 inches and can be carried by two handles, a shoulder strap or it can convert into a backpack with the built-in backpack straps that are neatly hidden away when not in use. This strong, polyester bag features double stitching for durability and high quality metal zippers. It also has a USB port so you can keep your devices charged while in class or rehearsal. Check Price on Amazon
We love this bag for all of the features it presents. However, over the past few months we’ve seen that it is frequently out of stock (which is probably a good indication of the quality and value it presents). If you check the link above and find that it’s out of stock, please consider the MarsBro Water Resistant Sports Gym Duffel Bag as a great alternative (also sold on Amazon). It is a little smaller but offers a lot of the same features as the Crowd Designz bag. We feel that the MarsBro bag definitely ranks high as on of the best dance bags with separate shoe compartment.
Fuel Sport Carryall Duffel
This spacious and roomy bag is more like a tote than a duffel and will not disappoint. It has one zipped pocket on the front for easy access and TWO side pockets for water bottles or other necessities. There is also an interior mesh pocket. The bag has 2 shorter soft lined handles as well as a longer, detachable, adjustable strap to wear cross-body.
The fabric is super durable and all of the hardware is metal. There is also a harness on the front of the bag to attach your conditioning mat. The bag measures 20.5 x 13.5 x 7 inches and has a limited lifetime warranty. It comes in a variety of solid colors and prints and for around $27 it’s a great deal. Check Price on Amazon
Conclusion
We think that the best choice out of all the items listed above is this bag. It doesn’t look manly, it has enough storage space and is just the right size to carry everything you need while not being too bulky. It’s the most durable out of all and provides a dancer with everything they need. But above all, it fulfills its’ purpose perfectly.
Still want more?
We can’t blame you… you’ve made it this far so that must mean you’re really into ballet & dance duffel bags, so we’re here to help. We know some of you aren’t totally convinced that the products listed above are really the best ones for you. So we’ve broken everything down even more. Want to know which is the cheapest? What about the best ones for beginners…we’ve got those too. Follow the link below to get even more.
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