Hi,

What do you feel about our difference of height.

We want to compete at bronze level in ballroom and latin dances

Here are some training videos of us.
Tango
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WQcP-ZgZWgA
Waltz
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nrnJzHDwIts

Thanks for your remarks.

Patrick

What do you feel about it? That's probably the most important thing, as it will translate into how you do in your competitions. Though we do not enter competitions, I have same problem with my wife, though she is the taller one, and probably not as noticeable as your difference. I thought you looked good in your video, and I know I've seen some great champions with significant height differences. But you might get some good pointers from other posters who get into competitions. This topic has come up before, with some good advice. Good luck!

Be particularly careful about your hold.

If the man's right arm slopes downwards from the shoulder to the lady's shoulderblade, and if the left upper arm slopes down at the same angle (so that the elbows are at the same height), the upward slope of the left forearm to the handclasp will naturally be at around the height of the lady's eyes. The lady's right arm should be almost 'laid' along the man's right arm, with contact points the the top of the lady's arm, and the man's wrist, and again at the top of the man's arm with the lady's fingers. The elbows should nearly touch: we should not see a gap between. The overall impression is one of balance on the two sides of the body. (Obviously, we make the usual adjustments for Tango).

Check carefully, using a mirror, but your basic posture and set-up is quite pleasing, and you have the potential to develop quite a big top line for the swing ballroom dances. I don't see any reason to worry about the height difference.

As a dance teacher 5'9" with partner (wife) 5'1" we have never found it a problem and competed successfully as amateurs in our younger days. Yes, I had to adjust when I moved from my previous 5'6" partner where oversways were much easier but my wife's footwork and Latin were much better - it is swings and roundabouts.
I agree with D Heun's post that it is more about how you feel, as dancing should be about having a fun time. Your partner has a long enough stride to move with you (sometimes even longer than you)and I can't see what is worrying you.
Don't worry about height and work hard with your teacher on the basics. You will lose no points for height difference but will for not closing your feet and not walking straight.

Patrick-Yv. You could come down through the knees by several inches, and stay down. This should allow the lady to get her left hand into the correct position. Have you been told that the knees in the Tango veer in towards each other which should encourage you not to go in a straight line when dancing the Tango..Also if the the knees are in the correct place you will find you can use the inside edges of the feet better. Just as a reminder. If your head was touching the ceiling after bending through the knees. There it will stay touching the ceiling throughout the dance easpecialy on a Progresive Link. Whatever happens the man must not loose that straight back verticle look.
There is a very succesfull professional partnership between Warren Boyce who is very tall, and his wife and partner Kristy who is not very tall. They will be up there in quarter or semi finals later this week at Blackpool. Good luck. I think you have a excellent partner there.

Nice dancing. I think the two of you would have a great time dancing Smooth and do some open work.Looks like your female partner has some previous training so she may have bells and whistles that she will really enjoy using.The height issue will work itself out easier.

Have you entered a competition yet? And how is it going since your original post. I felt the height difference would not be a major factor, but you never know what judges might be looking at, etc. Give us an update if you can.

dheun :
Yes we did. But only for Latin dances.

It was our first experience. We were not perfect and our classment was very bad.

In ballroom dancing we didn't and I'm afraid to not be able to do this one day. Since my first message I had to stop dancing because of my wife. The lady on the video is not my wife she is only my dance partner.
It is very difficult to my wife to see me dancing with an other woman and she suffer from this situation and I think there is no solution to make her to change her point of view.
It's very hard for me...!!!

Patrick, I have similar situation to yours. Only my wife is the taller one. Also, I am far more interested than she is in improving and continuing to dance at the studio or in studio shows, which we have done several times. I'm not interested in competing too much, as I did that when I was 30 years younger, but not for very long. Because my wife is not as interested, I often find myself dancing with other ladies at social events or even the lessons. My wife doesn't seem to mind. She has, in fact, encouraged me to dance with ladies at events who don't have partners and maybe traveled a long way to attend the event. All of that being said, I would prefer that my wife was a dance partner who had the same enjoyment and desire to improve, but it's just not a priority for her, at least partly because she is an aerobics instructor and her feet and knees take enough pounding. As long as she doesn't mind me dancing with other women (or if I had a different partner for a show or program), then I guess it's OK.
Not to get nosy, but does your wife have no interest in dancing at all? Or doesn't have the time to practice, etc.? (That is part of our problem ... my wife and I are on different schedules much of the week). The best way to describe it for me, is that it's always been one of many sports I enjoy, and it is also a main hobby.

Yeah, don't sweat the height difference. I have an amateur couple that has an even greater height difference than the two of you, and while it does create some challenges, they have been very successful and are now competing at the Open level and winning or placing in the top three of their events.