I'm 5'10" tall. I wear 2 1/2" heels. I don't slump for anyone. I don't have a large selection of instructors - just 2 that are 5' 11" and they are worth their weight in gold. I do really well in American Smooth. Rhythm I work harder and have to make sure I really roll through the feet and have a lot of natural animation.

When I social dance I don't care how tall the guy is, they don't want to into a closed frame position anyway. Well except one old fart that was 5'2" and wanted to snuggle his head on my chest. I walked off the floor from that one.

They say that the ideal height is for the man to be about 4 inches taller than the woman.

But I'm also 5'8" in bare feet and I wouldn't dance much if I waited only for partners that tall! I often dance with men shorter than I am in heels.

Whether a height difference matters depends on your goals. For social dancing, it makes next to no difference. For competitive dancing, hieght difference matters less in latin than in ballroom. At the lower levels of ballroom competition, I'd say it might be a slight disadvantage in your overall look, but if you develop a nice topline and dance well into your knees, it shouldn't be too visible. If your ambition is to make it to the top in competitive dancing, a taller partner would probably be better for you.

Well I totally understand you! i'm 5'7 in bare feet and there are a lot of times that I dance with shortr guys but it depends on your partner! I always wanna believe that it seems beautiful as I feel beautiful while dancing! The point is that despite the competitions height doesn't matter if your pertner is good! it's not very nice dancing with a partner too tall either!I believe that only the couple and the dance itself matters so i guess I'm over it

My wife is 5'9" and I am 5'7" with short legs, on a good day. Those numbers are barefoot...so add 3" for her shoes...we really don't have any issues with the height...in fact most women where we dance are taller then the men...

Some of the men have issues with that but that is their issue, which leaves me several partners to choose from.

We won a coaching lesson with Nick Kos...from DWTS and he said our tango and waltz lines were exellent, you could tell there was a height difference but the form more than made up for it...

However we have a friend who has a bad back and is 5'4" and when he dances with my wife he sometimes hurts it because there is almost an 8" difference. But he knows now what patterns they can do without bothering his back.

So my 2 cents...if you are comfortable and dance tall and your partner is comfortable there should not be many issues.

very true. it's all about being comfortable with that person. Obviously looks and appearance wise, it would look "better" to dance with someone who's taller than you, but if you don't find anything wrong with it, then i think it's fine

A tall lady can always come down through the knees with a shorter partner. But if a taller man tries to come down through the knees with a shorter lady it can look terrible. In a competition in a competition dress for the lady it is managable. For the man it isn't.

i think ur partner's hight is short and u have to go out with him with high hells so he should be taller than u with high hells but eventhough i have a same problem too but i really dont care because i have my partner and who cares?????

i have a same problem too but he is only 1 inch shorter than me with heels and it doesn't matter because i dont wear high heels and he doesn't look that short compare to me

I believe I have mentioned this before that my wife is at least 3 inches taller. During our lessons, my instructor tells us we look fine because it forces us to stay in a good, upright ballroom position. He has on occasion, even lowered our arms a bit to make it look more natural. So I have no problem with it, and actually find it difficult to switch to a shorter partner sometimes. However, when we have danced in a show and I am in a suit coat, I tend to find out too late that, even though I can move my arms and extend for the turns and keeping good lines, I look kind of stiff because the coat tightens up in the shoulders. I don't think it would do that if my partner was the same height or even shorter than my 5-6. I would add, however, that my wife tends to wear flatter shoes, rather than heels. I agree with the poster that says if it feels pretty good and both dancers know the steps, it probably looks pretty good, too.

The last four demonstrators to visit our shores and to demonstrate at our championships none of the men have worn tails or even a jacket. What can look better than the way William Pino dresses and can be seen on youtube. An ordinary jacket can be a problem in the shoulders. I think it is the padded shoulders which cause the problem. Back to competitions There is no rule which says tails have to be worn.