I got an email from our President at 10:00 am saying that we had a Dash Dash which was not themed and that buses were leaving our house at 10:00 pm at night. This gave everyone in our chapter about 12 hours to find a date. The President and Social Chair had rented out a venue downtown for the night and got a DJ and the plans were sprung upon us. Date Dashes are one of my favorite events in my fraternity. It allows members to ask others that they wouldn’t normally ask since they are in a time crunch. I decided to ask Taylor, my girlfriend, so it was an easy choice for me, but there is a definite art to a date dash.
There are many guys that I would classify as the last minute kind of guys. These guys are the ones that walk around campus and go about their normal day until they meet someone that they know and then the ask them. There are also the guys whose first thought is to invite their friend because they know they will have fun. Then there are the guys that will ask someone who they have had their eye on for a while but haven’t had an event to ask them too. Lastly, there are those that know that they are going either way and having fun so they just play it by ear and see if they can snag a date by all means possible before the buses leave.
In addition to the date, which is a critical part of the “Date” Dash, the costume or theme is also very important. Unfortunately our Social Chair and President had not themed our outing, so of course the guys took it into their own hands to dress totally ridiculous. They found whatever was in their closet and throw it on and encouraged their dates to do the same. I dressed in a banana costume with a Christmas hat and Taylor was some kind of Disneyland tutu fusion. Once dressed in a banana costume no judgment could be passed, because I had already crossed the threshold of embarrassing. Even my quite “unique” dance moves never came into question. The venue was just around the street in downtown Los Angeles and everyone had a great time.
Date Dashes are a great way to add some spontaneity to what sometimes seems like a ritualistic schedule. I had a bunch of fun and I know that everyone else that came had fun as well. I am glad we had a Date Dash to end the semester.
