Before
I feel all enthusiastic about dancing more, so I get ready and go despite the rainy weather. However, upon my arrival, outside the venue, doubt sets in. The floor looks very crowded. People are dancing mostly LA salsa, and indeed, I know no one.
During
I'm wondering whether there will be any dancing for me at all, but decide to go in and pay, anyway. I navigate to the coat rack, and then to the ladies room to change. The ended of the small crowded dancefloor are crowded too, with ladies and gentlemen waiting for their turn.
Sooner than I expect I am asked to dance. However, the person dances salsa in an embrace more suited for kizomba, and still keeps bumping into people. The second person ends his bachata in a seriously dangerous dip, where I wonder whether I will fall onto the floor first, or whether me will first fall on top of me. The luck is on my side, however, and neither thing happens.
The third dancer is very kind, and after our dance points out to me the two guys I might want to avoid. Yes, the very two I already danced with. Starting with the dance with this gentleman, the evening continues quite pleasantly with dances and even discussions.
In the end I also meet someone I had much fun dancing with before, and finish the night dancing many delightful salsas and bachatas with him.
After
I think I will continue going to new salsa parties in the future too. Maybe in the future I will spend a little bit time in the beginning just sipping my drink and watching the other dancers with the eye of trying to figure out whether some of the dancers there are mostly in it for the grinding. It might not be a bad idea to identify some really good dancers, and talk to them about who dances what quite early on, so I'll minimize my chances of missing a stray zouk, if one is played
