I'm an 18 year old sophomore college student who is currently studying ballet outside of a company setting. I was in a pre-professional company before I moved to Washington, DC for school, but frequently got shafted in pieces, frankly, for being too tall. Now I am personally trying to get my technique up because I would like to audition, but I'm afraid I'm 5"10 and I think that will be the end of it. Adrianna Lallone from PNB is 5"11, but that's practically unheard of. Any advice? Am I too tall to dance for anyone but myself?

Look for a ballet company that doesn't look for dancers of a particular height. Other than that, you are to tall to get partnered much, although there are still plenty of non-partnered opportunities to dance.

Do you know of any such companies? I've been researching and haven't really found anything promising.

I auditioned once at a ballet school and they didn't accept me because they said I was too tall to do ballet professionally, and I'm only five five and a half. Currently, I am learning under Dalia Haye, a previous soloist with the Pennsylvania Ballet. She gave me hope when she said the claims that I was too tall were utterly baseless. She said that in the PA Ballet, there were dancers as tall as five eleven. She said there is no such thing as being too tall, except for companies like NYCB who are looking for a specific build.

I'm a very inexperienced ballet partner, but this summer at ADC, I had a chance to work with a couple of girls who were 5-10, one en pointe, and the other in flat shoes, and the basic stuff (lifts into a temp de fleche, a bunch of different assisted turns including stuff with that moved their arms over their head, penches) were all quite doable. I'm 6-0, and not super strong. It helped that they had strong technique, so most things were pretty easy.

--Andre

I don't know what company to suggest, but I do know that Suzanne Farrell was 5'10" as is Muriel Maffre. Maffre was also told she was "too tall". I understand Ballanchine liked tall dancers so a company with a Ballanchine focus would be a place to start.

crandc, Suzanne Farrell is not 5'10". I'd say she's about 5'7".

Lines Dance Company in San Francisco has some tall women. Very tall women are rare in companies with a classical repertoire, because of the classical aesthetic that dictates that men be taller than women, even when the women are on pointe (though some directors aren't as conservative as others). But there are smaller companies with more modern repertoires where the height ratio isn't so important.

thanks everybody for all your help! (: