About 8 months ago I started taking classes. I really enjoy it and now I go to class like once a week but often twice. All the classes have a class component but then there’s a couple hours after each class that is just for “social dance.”

I’d really like to make friends through this new hobby but I’m not really sure how to do it. First of all, the age range is pretty big - lots of early 20-somethings all the way up to people probably in their 60s. I’m in my late 30s so definitely I’m not an outlier in this way. Secondly, a lot of people come with friends or already know people in the community. I feel like it’s difficult and maybe even rude to inject myself into a conversation of a group I’m not a part of…though sometimes I try a bit (though I try not to stay in the convo too long).

So far I’ll try to strike up conversations with people that are standing by themselves. Again, I try to read their body language and not keep anyone in a conversation too long especially if I’m unsure they want to be in it. And when I dance with people, I’ll try and make a little conversation so that I can talk with them later or maybe they’ll remember me next time. In general I like to dance one or two songs and then sit out for one or two…it gets very warm on the dance floor so like to take breaks to get water/etc.

So far I feel like I’ve connected with maybe 3 people that I see regularly. I know their names and we say hi. One of them is very chatty which is great.

But I do feel like sometimes I come off as over eager or just a little bit extra. And there have been some times when I thought I connected with someone but then they didn’t even say hi to me next time which makes me wonder if I said or did something to turn them off.

I guess I’m just wondering what else I can do and how I can gauge this better. On the one hand I think I have good perception of body language and such…but then again there have been some times in my life where I’ve really misread situations…so I’m not sure how to play this.

For some reason I can’t comment on other’s comments…but since it was asked I’m female and I follow. There are usually about equal numbers of leads and follows…I’d say maybe 55-60% follows so all leads could be dancing constantly and there would be some follows hanging out.