I have a Pro and Am. female
partners. I am going to compete
soon with the Pro (Pro Am), haven't
competed with the Am. for 3 years, but we still a lots socially.

My problem is that the Pro is
5ft. 8 inches and the Am. is
5ft. 3 inches. I am 6ft. 1 inch
tall. I feel like I am losing
my hard earned frame with my
shorter partner. I am having
problems adjusting to her lower
height. We have always had
problems with the height connection(we never could connect well at the hips, but now it seems to be getting worse.
Foxtrot seems to be the hardest for
the shorter partner. Has anyone
had problems like this with a shorter
partner.

you are soo used to danceing with the taller partner that your dance frame is based on that standard. go back into your brain and think about the actual elements of the dance frame, and apply them to your shorter partner, the reason it may feel wrong is because its differnt. as for the body contact, again your used to body proportions similar toy your own. try praticeing more with your AM partner. you said you havent competed with her for 3 years, if you dont plan on competing with her again, then it shouldnt be a big deal. if you are planing to compete and it really isisnt working out then it may be time to find a new AM partner, that is quite a height difference, and their are alot of tall girls out there who need tall partners.

Most likely your legs are just too long for your partner's. If you are going to dance with the shorter person you will have to sacrifice the length of some of your driving steps because they are just too long.
You should go through all of your dances and make sure that you are each lowering on every down step, because without really getting into the knees she (I'm assuming the woman is shorter) will never obtain the most length in her stride. So she will have to take her 'maximum' step and you will have to back off.

Also with that big of height disparity it is easy for each of your body rise to be out of sync with each other, giving a "popping" look. This will only exaggerate the problem. So you just need to go over your routines with a fine tooth comb so you both know what needs to be done and how much to do.

The foxtrot, when done correctly shouldn't be too uncomfortable. Foxtrot is danced with the sides, so say in a feather step, if she really gets her right side out of the way ont he first step and can continue to move it back laterally, it will open up the space for you to move in to.

Basically I don't think I've ever seen a really successful dance couple be so unbalanced height wise. But good luck.

Thanks for the information
on height differences.

I watched a Int. Std. Prof. couple
dance this weekend and they
were really struggling. He was
about 6'3" and she was 5'2"and
wore 3" heels. I had heard
that their coach recommended that
they go to Am. Smooth and
forget about Standard.

It is so hard to find a suitable
partner, especially amateur, that
one has to take what they have
available. We have danced together for a long time, so we both have lots of time and lesson money invested. Especially since height difference doesn't make much difference in Latin and other dances.

One of my biggest problems is
connecting with my frame to hers.
She has much shorter arms and I sort
feel like I'm bending down to her.
The hip connections are a different
story.