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.

Socially, it does not matter for any dance type.

Competitively, YES IT DOES for the International Standard style.

My partner and I have grappled with this for years. In fact, teachers in our area cannot teach us because they don't know what the technique is for an odd-sized couple.

I am taller than my partner in heels. Out of heels, we are the same height. The point of contact is differet for us, and very, very hard to maintain. Not only am I taller, but we have different body types. I have long legs, shorter torso, he has short legs, long torso. If there ever was a more difficult, harder partnership, we've got it. Our look is different than that of a couple with a taller man and shorter lady. We look more like the Gleaves or like Massimo Giorgianni and Alicia Manfredini. Those couples manages work around their mismatched body types and were very successful. But both have been together for years and have trained with high quality coaches to make their partnerships work (I know, Gleaves are now divorced).

From competitive experience, I will say that judges do not like the look of a same-sized partnership or a look where the lady is obviously taller.

Now "The Look" is a tall, very thin man with sloping shoulders and a long neck, coupled with a tiny lady several inches shorter, very, very thin with no hips.

I've known and competed against couples with lesser dance abilities than us, but because they had such ideal body types, they were judged ahead of us. Judges automatically look at couples with the right "Look" over those who do not have that look. At a competition recently, I saw a same-sized couple, who had great connection and danced as one, get second place to a couple who consisted of a tall, thin, long-neck man with a little skinny partner who did NOT dance as one and had about a 6-inch gap between their bodies. NO contact point whatsoever, but they beat out the same-sized couple who did have contact and danced as one. Why? Because they had "The Look." and desired body types. At a recent competition, almost all the finalists in the standard events had "The Look".

To drive home the point how important height and body size relationship is in Standard, I know a couple where the wife is slightly shorter than the man in heels. They rarely made finals, especially in a deep field. But then the man dumped his wife and started dancing with a woman who is only 4'11" IN HEELS. He is about 5'10", and can literally pick this woman off the ground while they're dancing. (I've seen him do it.) Since he started partnering with this midget, he consistently makes finals. When you see them dance, all you see is him, because he towers over his partner and is wider than her. With this small lady, this man looks very dominate and effective on the dance floor. But when you see this man dance with women closer to his size or taller, he does not look that good. That tells me this man is not that good of a dancer, but because he now partners with such a small lady that he easily dominates, he can get away with poorer technique. And so can she. I've seen her cross his center line with her head and body, yet she gets away with it because the man is wider and so much taller than her.

If you are a same-sized couple and you cross over your partner's center, it is very, very noticeable. Same-sized partners have to be much better dancers to achieve a look that the judges want. It takes a lot more time and effort and good coaching than that of a couple with a tall man with a tiny lady. Mistakes or bad technique shows up much more with a same-sized couple than a couple with "The Look".

So if you don't have an ideal body match for Standard, you are in for one hell of a battle. You have to figure out what will work for you, because many coaches don't know how. You have to work so much harder. And you will see couples with ideal body matches be marked ahead of your time and time again, even those couples who may not dance as well as you do. It is very discouraging, but I am not about to divorce my partner just because he and I have mismatched bodies for ballroom dancing. Not worth it in my book.