Casual Dating: Swing at Melody Club

By by Allie Schaich and Farrah Madanay     10/24/12 7:00pm

Rice University has that well-known curse that students either find a partner during Orientation Week and date him or her until marriage or constantly hook up with random people at parties and never settle. This curse is an exaggeration, of course, but the Rice social culture seems to have no semblance of a third realm in this dichotomy of committed couples and hook-ups. What if you are not keen on the random hook-up, but also do not care to spend the rest of your life with the next person you date? The answer: casual dating.

The reason for this column is two-fold: First, to demonstrate that casual dating is OK and a great way to meet new people, and second, to highlight the entertainment scene outside of Rice campus that offers countless date-night options.

We define casual dating as asking out and spending time with someone you find attractive - whether for humor, looks, brains or style. This casual date may result in a consecutive date if you are both interested, or it may result in a new acquaintance and a story to tell your friends. Most importantly, for the casual date to be successful, both daters must steer clear of any post-date expectations or awkwardness.

---

---

Our second aim is to present alternatives to the typical weekend night of donning a questionable outfit, drinking suspect punch and grinding at a public party. It is difficult to learn as much as someone's first name, let alone anything else about them, when both of you are inebriated and screaming to be heard while dancing to

"Gangnam Style." 

As Forbes' coolest city in America, Houston, unsurprisingly, is a hotbed of eateries, concert venues, live performance theaters, museums and parks with free entertainment. With so many attractions, Houston could be labeled one of the best date cities in the U.S. as well. And when it comes to casual first dates, the nature of the date itself can serve as a talking point to help ease any initial feelings of anxiety.

For our first date, we decided to break the antiquated social norm by asking a couple of chaps to accompany us on an adventure 20 minutes east of Rice to the Melody Club for "Swingin' Fridays." Our friends jumped onto our casual dating bandwagon so that by the time Friday rolled around, our double date had expanded into a group of seven pairs. 

We pulled into the parking lot of the Melody Club, alongside a fenced-in electrical plant. Deterred by neither the industrial location nor the eerily flickering, neon Melody Club sign, our group giddily emerged from our cars to peer into the club. Having arrived midway through the 8 p.m. beginners' class, we decided to pay the $5 entrance fee and wait anxiously in the back of the hall for the 9 p.m. social dance hour. Tripping over each others' feet as we attempted to emulate the shuffles and twirls of the elderly couples in the class, the manager approached us and offered to teach us a few basic steps for free, with the help of his dance instructor. Our instructor, Amanda, a recently relocated Australian expatriate, chuckled as we side-passed and sugar-pushed our way to a basic understanding of the steps of West

Coast swing.

As the regulars filed into the dance hall, jiving to both contemporary pop and 1960s favorites, our group practiced our moves on the margins of the dance floor. Not only were we clearly less experienced, but we were also younger by a

couple generations. 

The overhead lights dimmed, and strings of blue and red Christmas lights draped down from the ceiling. A projector replaying video clips of champion swing dance routines from the 1980s set the backdrop to confident balding men leading women in cheetah print and fringe dresses across the parquet wood floor. As the crowd loosened up (there was also a minibar), we internalized our six-beat counts, attempted whips and underarm passes and nervously asked some of the regulars to dance. By the end of the night, our group had caught the dancing bug: We alternated between dance partners, learned advanced moves like the basket whip and chugged bottles of water to keep up with the youthful senior crowd.

As we highlight the best of our casual dating adventures, we encourage others to get to know their peers within the hedges by exploring events beyond them.

 

Casual Dating is a column written by Wiess College sophomore Allie Schaich and Duncan College senior Farrah Madanay. The aim of Casual Dating is to encourage a laid-back dating culture at Rice.

---