You're reading: Speed dating parties offer fast way to find Mister or Miss Right

Five minutes are simply not enough for good sex, but it could be just enough time to meet an eternal love or a loyal friend – or simply to find a new sex or even business partner.

Dmytro Dorozhko, 23, the owner of Kyiv’s oldest speed dating club, got into the matchmaking business after attending one such event during a vacation in Montenegro. Dorozhko brought the speed dating idea to Kyiv three years ago. It was a tough sell at the start and remains marginally profitable, but he sees progress.

The idea is rooted in an old Jewish tradition of helping young, single Jews get to know each other in order to keep marriage within the faith. But the events are so entertaining that they took on a life of their own worldwide, regardless of religious affiliation.

In Kyiv, gatherings of up to 15 men and 15 women meet each other in one place during a two-hour party. Each couple has no more than 5-10 minutes to get acquainted. The men move around the tables to meet other women. Men and women can then mark a person they like on a special form. Afterwards, the forms are processed and the contacts of the matches are sent to each other.

Now there are up to a dozen websites offering speed-dating services in Kyiv and each of them have up to two speed-dating parties per month.



Dancing is a time-honored way for men and women to enjoy innocent intimacy.

Organizers claim it works.

“I should say there are up to 50 percent matches at each party,” Tetyana Danylenko, administrator and organizer of another Kyiv speed dating club, Vetchornytsi Club, says proudly.

The business is premised on the belief that first impressions matter.

“The first impression of a person is usually just an image. Just imagine that you see a lovely man in the street – you wouldn’t come to talk to him yourself and would most likely consider him rude if he tried,” Danylenko explains. “Here you have a chance to meet so many different people that you probably wouldn’t meet outside the party.”

But it’s not free. The price per person around Kyiv varies from Hr 190 to Hr 550 for a single speed dating party and mostly includes one drink in a cafe or restaurant where the event takes place.

Danylenko says not only potential lovers are found at these events, but prospective business partners as well.

Not everyone has been lucky.

Ievgeniya Serdiuk, a 24-year-old accountant from Kyiv, says she was disappointed. “Most of men were 30 plus or older and mostly IT specialists while most of ladies were good looking and quite interesting,” she says. “Now I don’t think that was worth the Hr 200 I paid,” Serdiuk says.

Organizers acknowledge the problem.

“There are many more women (applicants). They are more active and more disciplined when it comes to such an event and, it appears, more interested,” says Ievgen Sergeev, the founder of another Kyiv speed dating club. “I talked to many people but no one can explain why the boys are not so interested in such an easy way to know more women.”

Despite the disappointment that Serdiuk felt, she went on one date afterwards. “I liked one man there. He appeared to be my match and called right away, but it never continued,” she said. “I found him attractive at first but then found out we have too little in common.”

However, a psychologist thinks the chances to meet the right mate are pretty high.

“Five minutes are not enough to fall in love of course, but it is enough to make a choice,” says psychologist Olena Bohatyriova. “Scientists believe that a woman makes her choice during the first 30 seconds after meeting a man and this reaction is strongly connected to her biological reproduction function.”

Another love seeker, 27-year-old biologist Nataliya Paparyga, says she was okay with five minutes. “Sometimes those five minutes were too long and I was just dreaming about the guy leaving me, although when you meet a fun person five minutes are too short to even ask enough questions,” Paparyga said.

First Date

http://pervoesvidanie.com.ua/club/ClubFirstDate/ 

044-384-0475

095-767-3939

097-159-5959

093-593-7753

Hr 550

Speed Dating

http://speedating.kiev.ua/

063-261-3437

067-681-3185

050-915-7743

Hr 200

Express Dating

http://speed-dating.ws/ 

383-2706

11 Artema St.

Hr 190

Vechornytsi Club

https://sites.google.com/site/vechornyci/ 

095-281-1095

Hr 200

Kyiv Post staff writer Daryna Shevchenko can be reached at [email protected]