Until now I have told new partners that I am a beginner. Most have been considerate and helpful and I have had a few very lovely dances. Now I am not quite a "beginner" anymore and I feel a bit silly saying that but still don't want to be stumbling and bumbling along and making the dance difficult and unpleasantfor both of us. How should I deal with this?

On a similar topic, my DH and I are one of those couples who have taken dance lessons so we could dance with each other and not primarily so that we could dance with other people. Of course we understand that we can learn a lot from dancing with others and have had some very pleasant dances during mixers. But I have to say that, as near-beginners, we are very hesitant and anxious about dancing with people we don't know. We are not being snobby in any way, we just feel insecure about our abilities.