History

The second floor, which is not far from New-York Central park is closed for private function. Three dozens of men and women at the centre of the hall are trying to be uninhibited and natural. The majority of ladies are dressed in casual-office style and only some of them are in evening dresses. Men, with some minor exceptions, are in shirts and without jackets. Nobody knows each other and cocktails are very apropos: there is something to be occupied with. The tables for two are placed against the wall, on the tables there are plates with numbers. Host of the evening Dave Tservini is recalling the rules for the last time. Seven minutes for communication, after a signal conversations should be stopped, ladies are staying down, men are changing their seats. If you like your partner in conversation and you would like to see his/her again, put a tick in the field “Yes”, if you don’t like – in the field “No”. If your “Yes” coincides with “Yes” of your vis-à-vis, then you will get e-mail address of each other within 24 hours. Dave is pressing on the bell several times, and the hubbub of conversations gets rolling in a moment. If to move from table to table, you can catch fragments of conversation: “What do you do for living?” , “…Three wishes of goldfish?”, “Where are you from?”, “Database administrator….”, “…and like riding a bike…”, “Actually, from Ohio…”, “favorite film? I don’t know, I haven’t gone to the movies for five years”. This Speed Dating party – is an express-acquaintance or speed dating. It sounds frivolous, but casual relationships have nothing to do with this. The format of such meetings was invented in the middle of 1990s by Yakov Deyo from Los Angeles subdivision of Jewish organization “Ash a-Tora”, which is dealing with study of Tora. Ravina was concerned with the fact that Jewish girls and boys in American cities have little opportunities for acquaintance and choice of companion of life. Idea of express-acquaintance, losing its national and religious context, was spreading quickly in America and then through the whole world. Now, thanks to our proposition everyone who wishes can participate in the Speed dating party in Kiev.