When in a group, either walking around, or just in a social situation that allows free movement without judgement, I often find myself having to find ways to leave one sub-group for another. It's not that I don't like the people I am currently with, its just I think I will have a better time, or a more interesting conversation with a different sub-group. This navigation is tricky business.
While walking around, there are two main places you can be that require tact, the front or the back. If you are in the middle, you can just slip into the front or back group without much notice. But if you are in the front, you must implore some tact to get closer to the back. There are a few options for this. The first is to simply walk slower, this can work if you are not in a conversation with the currently people near you, you are just walking. But if you are in a conversation, you need to get out of it, which I usually do by not talking for a while.
The second tactic is more complex, and it works for any position. You say you need to do something, or you tie your shoe. This allows you to exit the group entirely, which then permits you to re-enter the group at any position when you return. But be careful with this, as your current sub-group might get suspicious, and try to re-recruit you to their sub-group.
The final tactic (which should be used very rarely if at all) is to lose all subtlety, and simply stop, and forcefully enter the desired sub-group with an entry topic of conversation such as "so what are you guys talking about", or try to get that information from your current position, and have a leading question for when you arrive. You may be able to get a chuckle, or sympathy from your original sub-group by saying something like: "well, this is boring", or "I'm gonna go check out what they are up to".
If you are in the back, you need to make a more drastic change to get further up. Speeding up is a lot more noticeable than slowing down, so requires better timing. You need to act when your conversation has died, or you are not really part of it. You also need for no one in your sub-group to be paying attention to you, so they don't say "where are you running off to?" Unfortunately, this is noticed a lot of the time, which can lead to an awkward look from both your new sub-group and old one. But it can be worth it, and should be considered a legitimate option if the situation calls for it.
This type of inter-group positioning is also very important when riding in cars. It is often very hard to get the perfect combination of people in the perfect locations within the care you are in. As I mentioned in a past post, the best conversations are located in the one-on-one back seat positions, so you must try to get the one person you wish to talk with the most in the back seat with you. For me this is very hard because I am tall, and therefore my considerate friends usually allow me the front seat, which I have no apparent reason to decline, as it is supposed to be sought after by the tallest member of the group. But while I am tall, I don't mind the slightly more crampt back seat if it allows me to have a much better conversation during the trip.
These kinds of situations also apply to when you are just hanging out in a house, with a large group. The tactics for movement are much simpler, because there are set things you can do. First is go to the bathroom, which is an auto-reset. If you want to move to the kitchen sub-group, simply go get some food or drink from there, easy peasy. If you want to go from any standing position to any sitting position, just say "I'm gonna go sit down", and you will not be questioned at all.
The one thing you simply cannot do unless you either think your current sub-group will understand (example, going to talk to the girl you like), or you just don't care about the current sub-group at all, is say "I'm gonna go hang out (or talk) with them now". This could make you sound like a dick, and insult the current group, which could also lead to questioning about why you did it, which is a path you never want to go down.
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