Learn Spanish (Latin America): El bailarín alto siempre tuvo un gran éxito. - The tall dancer always had great success.

The adjective grande changes its meaning depending on where it goes. Before a noun, it shortens to gran and means "great" or "impressive." If we put it after the noun (un éxito grande), it would mean physically "large," which sounds a bit strange when talking about success.

Would the meaning change if we said el alto bailarín?

Yes! When alto comes after the noun, it means physically "tall," which is what we want here. If you put it before the noun (el alto bailarín), it usually means "high-ranking" or "top-level."

Why use the preterite tuvo instead of the imperfect tenía if the sentence says siempre (always)?

We usually pair siempre with the imperfect tense to talk about ongoing habits in the past. However, using the preterite tuvo here means the speaker is looking back at the dancer's entire career as a single, completed timeframe. If you used tenía, it would sound like you were setting the scene in the middle of his ongoing career.

Why does bailarín have an accent mark on the last syllable?

In Spanish, words ending in n, s, or a vowel naturally emphasize the second-to-last syllable. Since the spoken stress in bailarín falls on the very last syllable, it needs a written accent to break that rule. Notice that the feminine form, bailarina, naturally stresses the second-to-last syllable, so it doesn't need an accent mark!