The frame will be distorted if the lady is taller than her partner in heels, but if you don't believe that an effectively same sized couple can win, you obviously slept through Chris & Hazel's recent reign as champions.

Well Anonymous, I can see why you keep your name that way so you can post such sarcastic, condescending posts.

Hazel Newberry and Christopher Hawkins ARE NOT same sized. He is still slightly taller than she is, even when she is wearing heels. I have video tapes of these two people, dancing in street clothes and in their dance attire. I've also seen them standing side by side.

They also are both very thin and their body types match up well.

You obviously do not have a very sharp eye and you obviously have never partnered with somebody who is not an ideal match.

If you can't say anything nice, then don't say anything at all. And if you had any guts, you would at least use your NAME in your posts instead of Anonymous.

Actually, I've had both taller and shorter partners. I didn't say Chris and Hazel where the same size, I said they were effectively the same size. Someone was arguing there is a trend towards taller men and shorter women, but they clearly are not an example of such. If Hazel were just a little taller, they probably would start to have some problems, though their method of connection accomodates height differences better than some others.

I feel that height shouldn't matter. If the leader is a foot taller than the follower then the leader would bend his knees but not mush so he is still still taller...like me my partner is 6 feet something and I'm 5'1'' all my leader does is bend but we are in swing so it looks nice.

Don't bend your knees more or less than usual as that would change the way dance actions work. Simply adjust the height of your arms to meet your partner.

that does sometimes work but we dance for social fun and east coast swing and they way my partner bends his knees is actully fine.....it makes us look like we are doing liny hop or something

If in Modern Ballroom the guy is much taller than their partner. Beware, be sure to keep your head to your left unless in promanade. With myself if I turn my head to my right I am looking in my partners ear. I would very quickly make the adjustment. But a tall guy taller than their partner can , but should not turn there head to a position that is looking over their partners head unless say, they are doing a lunge to the right.

We have the problem that Laura mentioned. My wifes legs are longer than mine ,her hips are higher and she is an inch taller in shoes and weights 135lbs to my 130 lbs . It's to hard on her knees to stay down,my teacher would say that they can't see me dance on the comp floor,but that has changed ,by developing a more powerfull swing and using my head better than any other competitor we hold our own,but it's still hard competing against couples who the perfect mach. If you dan't have the right size partner forget about standard competition dancing and put all your energy into dancing latin.

one time my dance partner was 2 feet shorter than me i felt like i was dancing with a dog!!!!!!!!!!!

woof