Rhythmic gymnastics is an elegant and precise athletics which blends the strength and flexibility of gymnastics, the basic skills of ballet, and the self-expression and rhythm of modern dance. Costumes, face-paintings and apparatus play significant roles in accomplishing high-quality performance. Each of these has strict standard for its details.

Dressing room

There are some special modifications in the dressing rooms of Beijing University of technology Gymnasium, such as mirrors and dressers. Some people might think that professional make-up girls would help the rhythmic gymnasts to make up. Actually, each time the gymnasts decide how to do their make-up and then do it themselves. They will design the color and pattern by the music and the style of the costume. Learning how to make-up is another necessary task of these gymnasts.

Costume

The costume of gymnasts is a special trait of rhythmic gymnastics. In the early years, the costume made in Japan is very popular. Nowadays, increasingly more gymnasts get custom-tailored costumes made in Paris. The decorations and crystals in the costume are all made by hand. But because of the delicate handcraft, the average cost of a decent costume is about £¤3000. In this tournament, the crystals in the costumes of China group are produced by Swarovski.

The colors of gymnastic costumes are also very bright. As you can see the carpet of the international gymnasium is champagne and therefore to impose a prominent impression on the audience and umpires, the bright colors are a popular choise.

Music

Music is another important feature of rhythmic gymnastics. With music, the rhythmic gymnastics can show its rhythm and cadence completely. The music should harmonize with the performance. As for choosing music, some gymnasts would select the folk music of the nation. Some would choose the music which can represent their characteristics, for example the gymnasts of Russia prefer to choose the music in opera to accompany their graceful performances.

According to the routines, the music used in the performance could be a continuous musical segment, or an edited musical segment. In the past, solo music was popular. Now symphony and harrumph are more prevalent.

Apparatus

There are five pieces of apparatus used in rhythmic gymnastics: rope, hoop, ball, clubs, and ribbon. The rope is made from hemp and synthetic fiber, its length of is equal to the height of the gymnast. The hoop is made from wood and plastic, its shape of the transect can be a rotundity, a square, or an ellipse. The diameter of a hoop is from 80cm to 90cm, and the weight is above 300g. Ball is made from plastic and synthetic materials. The diameter is from 18cm to 20cm, and the weight is 400g. Clubs are also made from plastic and synthetic materials. The length is from 40cm to 50cm, and the weight of each club is above 150g. Ribbon is made from silk. The length is at least 6m, and the width is from 4cm to 6cm. The little stick at the bottom of the ribbon is made from wood, bamboo, plastic or fiberglass. The diameter of the little stick is 1cm and the length is from 50cm to 60cm. The maximal weight is 35g.

All of these apparatus are able to be dyed into any colors except for gold, argent, and copper. The colors of the apparatus are often the same as the costume’s, while sometimes they are the contrastive colors of the costume’s. It depends on the whole design of the routine.