- Title: HUNGARY: Government launches state-sponsored dating dance events
- Date: 27th May 2013
- Summary: (SOUNDBITE) (Hungarian) ORGANISER TIBOR DALOTTI SAYING: "Today's young people are used to do everything on the internet and this event is an opportunity to experience things in close body contact which they could not do on the internet."
- Embargoed: 11th June 2013 13:00
- Keywords:
- Location: Hungary
- City:
- Country: Hungary
- Topics: Quirky,Light / Amusing / Unusual / Quirky
- Reuters ID: LVA55IC04LISTVLYETMVV76M5MTU
- Aspect Ratio:
- Story Text: Despite the opportunity to meet the other sex, large crowds of young single people whom the Hungarian government had tried to attract to dance and date stayed away from the launch party on Sunday (May 26) evening.
In Budapest and other major cities across Hungary the government invited young people to party and date in a new state-sponsored series of dance events.
According to the government young people do not have enough time and opportunity to find partners so such events would help them to meet and date.
"Today's young people are used to do everything on the internet, and this event is an opportunity to experience things in close body contact which they could not do on the internet," organizer of the event Tibor Dalotti said.
The government says they would like to help young people date each other because the latest statistics show that a rise in the number of single people. According to the statistics, 88 percent of women and 90 percent of men under 30 are single.
The party called "Would you care for a dance?" included dance group performances ranging from ballet to folk dance, tango and rock-n-roll. Occasionally dancers tried to involve the audience mostly consisting of middle-aged and elderly people, with some youngsters watching curiously.
"For me, this is a little too direct. The performances are nice but whole thing around it…The idea of helping dating is not bad but this is a little too extreme, the surroundings are strange, or maybe it's just too afternoon-time. And there are hardly any men here," said Bori Komesz.
The idea stirred mixed reactions even before it took shape. The Facebook page of the event only lived for a couple of days as the ministry that organized the event decided to close the page entirely because of what the ministry called 'spams' but critics say were mocking comments.
"Excuse my vulgarity, but I think this whole thing is stupid. I think our private lives are private. Our private life is sacred and the state should have no say in it. And I also think it is waste of money," one critic Flora Molnar said.
The cost of the launch events in Budapest and the countryside was approx. 35,000 euros. - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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