I was just wondering if anyone has any good tips/advice/exercises on how I could improve my balance, particularly in the smooth dances? I had my first private lesson with my instructor this week and he said the only thing he wants me to really work on is balance. I too have noticed this before when I am out social dancing with other people and I think it has to do with 2 main things: 1) the fact that we women wear high heels makes it harder for us in general, 2) I'm 5'2" and most of the men I end up dancing with are usually a good 7+ inches taller than me so I find it harder for me to keep a nice frame and sometimes I even catch myself "hanging" onto the guy because of the height difference.

Other folks on this board can give you better advice about your posture than I can but I do want to point out one small detail.

Your feeling the need to "hang on" to your partner has very little if anything to do with your height difference.

As far as your high heels are concerned, do you normally wear them? Can you walk comfortably in them? If not then they're probably too high. Most women that I've met seem to be most comfortable dancing in 2 or 2-1/2 inch heels.

Don't try to use your high heels as "lifts" to compensate for what you perceive to be a lack of natural height. 5'2" is not that short.

jj

Core strength aids balance, as you probably are aware. I don't believe your height is an issue, either. And the advice about the high heels is right on target.
But I also don't know how strong you are. I have danced with women whose arm strength is so weak that their arms crumple on certain moves. It usually meant they were not very strong in the core area either and their dancing was a bit "wild" and disorganized because of it.
My wife often tells me that if I improved my core strength, a lot of the more difficult moves we try to do would be a lot easier. I tend to lose a little balance on occasion because at age 55 my midsection is much softer than it was 30 years ago.
But give that some consideration. Yoga, strength exercises and anything that works the core is a positive for a dancer and real plus for overall balance.

I would suggest you do the BASIC steps in what ever dance you were doing in your first lesson and do it SLOW and practice it at home or at the studio over and over until you feel that you can do it with your eyes closed and it becomes second nature with regard to your balance. Everyone has capacity for balance. Just concentrate on it. Everything else will fall into place, but it is always best to practice the BASIC steps in the begining.

BallroomOle99. Can you walk in a sraight line feet brushing up the floor on your own all heal leads.And then backwards. This is followed by with a partner in an extended hold both palms touching or right hand to right hand. If this proves difficult I would suggest there is a possibility that your legs are not under your body which is a very common fault by some ladies. When going backwards they send the left leg outwards and not straight back.. Alex Moore in his book written in 1936 mentions this. You could also stand with your back against a door just to check if you are standing up straight. You could also make yourself a Wopple Board which is half a tennis ball stuck to a piece of board, and balance on it. Last of all . your head weighs 16lbs. If its in the wrong place you haven't any chance of staying on balance. The Wobble Board will prove that. Good Luck.

Speaking from my own experience, heels do tend to throw you off balance until you get use to them. I started with a 2 inch heel and have worked up to a 3inch heel. I think balance is something that takes time. When I started dancing i couldn't do a spin or a turn without wobbling, now it is second nature. I also found that at the beginning, I transferred too much weight to my heels so I would fall off balance. I think that was due to lack of strength in my legs. I think you will find your balance will improve along with your dancing.

Ladydance. In our Sunday newspaper was an article on the harm that wearing high heeled shoes is causing. In Latin in particular it is essential to have a good leg line. There is nothing that shows it off more than a high heeled shoe. We see on tapes and in competitions the high heel and the ladies follow suit. What probably isn't taken into consideration is that those couples who train 7 days a week are most likely to be wearing high heels for less time than the rest of you ladies. It is possible that they may wear them only when on the demonstration or competition floor. Which is a lot less than you who wear them day in and day out. The article says that hip problems knee and ankle as well as back problems can come from the shoes you are wearing.
And once again. Stand your shoes on an even surface, a table will do. Does one or both of your shoes lean outwards. Men , it is not so obviouse. But look at the sole of your shoes. Is there more wear on the outside edge of the sole than there is on the inside. It should be the inside. So I have been told.

I find it a little hard to believe that the inside of the sole should have more wear than the outside, This would suggest a pronation problem. I thought the foot was 'designed' to transfer weight from the heel, up the outer side the foot on to the ball of the foot (this is normal walking).Check your footprints. My physio suggested orthotics to encourage my feet to do this, and since i've worn them, i've had much less knee trouble. But i'm not an expert. It's an interesting topic.

"I find it a little hard to believe that the inside of the sole should have more wear than the outside, This would suggest a pronation problem."

For ballroom dancing, you need to be slightly pronated, generally keeping your weight over the inside edge of the foot.

We could also describe it as slightly knock-kneed, or more commonly in dance language "knees veering in".

However the wear on the back of the heel should be somewhat to the outside (or severely if someone is making the mistake of using latin turnout in standard)

I practice my steps without a partner all the time. For some reason, I've noticed there are some ladies that don't like to do this (my wife being one of them).

I think that if you can do your basic steps without a partner, your balance problems will disappear. The reason is simple. You have to maintain balance to do them without a partner because you have nothing to hang onto. You will then find that you dance more confidently with a partner, because you are only relying on the partner for signals. You are doing your own part of the dance.

Also, before you worry too much about getting patterns correct, talk to your instructor about how to properly take a backward step in a smooth dance. There are exercises you can do to get this right, and it's not as simple as you might think. If he/she says there's nothing special in going backward, IMMEDIATELY find another instructor. If they say you are not ready, I disagree, but I will have to defer to their judgement. I don't think it's ever too early to learn the basics.

Once you can go up and down the ballroom floor backwards, effortlessly, the rest will be a cake walk...OK...it won't...but getting the backwards stuff down will make the rest easier.