When you dance either socially or competitively with someone, does your partner's height really matter ? Can the more advanced dancer "make up" for the difference in height ?

It matters to some extent, and to some extent it can be worked around. The truth is that it's different for everybody. I would not automatically discount someone as a potential partner due to height, but at the same time I do realize that height plays a part in two people being able to integrate their dancing into a cohesive unit.

Yes:

1. in extream cases, the views may be affected:
If the leader's view is obstructed by the follower, leading simply cannot be carried out;

2: if the hip contact is affected:
If hip contact cannot be maintained effectively, the ballroom dance would be done with less body communication;

3: under arm turn, and any other figure that require the arm to be raised over the partner's head, would be danced with difficulty.

I agree with Laura. It can be helpful to have a dance partner of a particular height, often near your own, but not necessary. It's certainly possible to work around differences and adjust things as necessary. For social dancing it really shouldn't matter muich at all except possibly in the case where the leader is much shorter than the follower. As Anonymous said below, this would make it difficult for the leader to see where he's going and to lead any sort of underarm turn figure. But for the most part with social dancing you just adjust. For competitions, you'll probably prefer to have a partner of compatible height, it should help make some things a bit easier. But if you can't find someone suitable at a matching height, you should still be able to learn to adjust for a larger height difference. You might want to get some coaching on that point though.

I agree with you guys. Height does mater to a certain extent, but it mainly depends on the dancers. For example, I know a a dancer who insists the her partner is atleast 5 inches taller than her and no more than 7 inches taller than her. Yet also I kno a couple that dances professionally and the man is over a foot taller than the woman. It all just depends on the people.

Interesting. Nobody has mentioned anything about dance style. Does your partner's height matter more in standard than latin ?
Anonymous, you said that it just depends on the people, hereby suggesting that skill level comes into play. Am i reading you correctly ?

I'd say that height matters the most in Standard. And even there, it's hip height and leg length that matters, not overall height. This is due to the continous closed contact between partners.

In Smooth, which from a contact point of view is half way between Standard and Latin/Rhythm, it is a little easier to work around height differences.

In Latin/Rhythm there's a lot more leeway for height differences, but even then too much of a difference can make a couple look unbalanced. However, great dancing always powers exceptions to this rule: Look at Andrei Graveline & Elena (whatever her last name is). They're a Russian couple that lives and dances in the US. They won Rising Star Latin at Blackpool not long ago and he's a LOT taller than her. Ditto for the Cutlers from England; Nicole was a lot shorter than the guy (sorry, forgot his given name).

While it's ideal for the lady to be an inch or two shorter than the man, it's not impossible if there's a greater height difference. Look at Pierre Allair and Marie Villieaux (I butchered their names I'm sure)! It would be difficult in standard if the woman is much taller than the man, but again not impossible.

In Latin it is possible to dance with a person who's height does not match. In Standard, the lady if she is taller can come down through the knees and still look good, and even better in a comp dress. But if the lady is really short and the man if he is taller by some considerable amount, its a no go situation for competition dancing.