Hate to be pedantic, but…
“height won’t matter as much as people would want you to believe” - well it would matter more or less. There are still companies, that won’t accept ballerina shorter or taller than their preferred norm (for example national company at my country just announced this year’s audition - looking for ballerinas between 165 - 173 cm). I’m not saying, they won’t let taller/shorter dancer audition, however at the same time I know dancers were sent home from audition, purely because they were too tall for the company and they even didn’t let them do audition class. Which sounds crazy, and I admit it’s a few years old information, so maybe companies could be more open nowadays.
What it the most important in classical company for ballerinas - there have to be male dancers suitable for them. You can be gorgeous dancer with impeccable technique, musicality and all, but if every potential dance partner is 10 cm shorter than you (talking about classical ballets, where female dancers are on pointe plus have some tiara, that makes them even taller) …
And it’s not just about aesthetics (I personally hate, when ballerina is taller then her partner, but I’m not saying it’s the same for everyone) (and yes, I know Nureyev, who wasn’t exactly tall, danced with young Guillem… ), it is also about health. It’s considerably harder for male dancer to do all the classical partnering and overhead lifts with a girl, who is taller, or even the same height as they are.
One example again, there was a ballerina in one of the national companies, who left for Monte Carlo, purely because in her previous company wasn’t any suitable partner for her (she’s with J.C. Maillots company now since Maillot loves tall dancers). (Markéta Pospíšilová, if anyone is interested.)
BUT - your height shouldn’t stop you in your dance career! You maybe won’t be able to dance in your dream company and/or you would have to work harder than anyone (even dancer like Agnes Letestu always said she had to fight for certain roles like Giselle, Juliette, Aurora. And she actually HAD partners to dance with, so the problem of tall ballerinas is not just partnership, but also the fact, that many roles in classical repertoir are 16yo girls) but there would be another companies more diverse, or simply with taller dancers (I feel Mariinsky is surely one of them, or let’s try Netherlands, Dutch are one of the tallest nationalities… Or I feel like american companies could be more open in this diversity. Although I think I read some interviews with tall ballerinas, who said they had to go to Europe, because they won’t find a company in the US, so who knows.)
Oh and “most male dancers being 6ft or taller” - IF ONLY!
(side note - I’m not particularly good with numbers, but if someone is 5ft 8 I guess they won’t be 5ft 9 on pointe. I’m 5ft 11 and on pointe I’m nearly 6ft 3 (but I admit, my feet are as big as an ocean liner, so I probably shouldn’t assume a thing!))