I have a dance dress with a velvet skirt (and it's right down to my knees in the back, with a scattering of rhinestones even) and it's definitely my heaviest dress, particularly noticeable to me on twizzles and such, but it doesn't look heavy in the videos I've seen of me in it and I've gotten tons of compliments on it. It did take me a bit to get used to the weight of the skirt on turns though...