Soo I'm a new country line dancer. I tried it almost 2 months ago and fell inlove. I've begun going to lessons/open dance on my own because I don't have many friends ⁃ or friends that would like that sort of thing. The dancing part I love but I also feel like a weirdo going all by myself sometimes.
Fast forward to last night. I met a woman who said she'd like to come to lessons. So she shows up with her friend, and suddenly it was like I had some buddies there. At first it was nice. But I began to realize friends at dancing isn't what it's cracked up to be.
Since l'm a beginner, I only know a handful of songs/dances. So when one that I know comes on, I want to hop up and try it. But this woman, this new friend (who knows even fewer dances than me), was talking my ear off! And she wasn't just talking about minor stuff. She was telling me some deeply personal and intense stuff about her past. Over coffee I'd be fine with this, but not at my new happy place!!
I think she likes the dancing and wants to learn, but not as much as me. I think she views it as a social thing, moreso than me. And it is of course. But for me, dancing is the main reason I'm there.
I did cut her off a bunch of times and I felt bad and awkward about it. She seemed to understand. So maybe that helped to set a precedent but it was annoying. It's one thing if you want to get off the phone, you can wait till there's a little pause and kindly bow out. But with a 3-4 minute song, by the time you kindly say "Hey i have to interrupt you" the song is halfway over. So you have to be very fast and blunt about cutting someone off. "Your mother is dying? Sorry. Gotta go do this dance. Be right back." Ugh!
I'm being sorta silly here, but it was kinda like that. The people who really want to dance seem to get it, but her not so much. And she's cool. I'd like to be her friend, but I'm annoyed if she's gonna ruin this for me. My dance time. It appears she wants to come back again. But I think that's for socializing mostly. Sigh.
Anyway. It's really bothering me. Any tips or thoughts or stories about how I could handle this gracefully???