well, more a small time local salsa gangster rather than actual mafia… The first hint of acceptance was when I got ushered into the ring at a local girl’s birthday dance. I don’t know if I’ve explained this one: here, when it’s some lucky (usually female) person’s birthday, the DJ puts on a salsa version of “happy birthday” that lasts, ooo about an hour, and a big cirlce of guys congregates and dance with her in a kind of “may I cut in?” way, but much cooler. I’d enjoyed watching these and wished I had the guts to try it myself. Well a couple of weeks ago I bumped into a couple who also went to the tango class, and it was their friend’s birthday. It was funny: I had a bit of trouble figuring how to cut in so they even helped me out with a small shove!
But the real turning point was last night when two girls were trying to dance with one guy. They looked to me like they were having a little difficulty deciding who should dance (though come to think of it I might have spoiled a 3-up… but if it was a 3-up it wasn’t a very good one…) so I waited for an opportune move and scooped his current partner away. After half a song, he kinda threw his partner away and grabbed mine, so I picked up the spare… very cool. Don’t know what the etiquette is in these situations but hey it was fun and nobody seemed to give me the evils afterwards!