It’s Friday night, and you are going door to door in search of — a blue thong?
As strange as it may seem, this scenario, or one like it, is common fare for many Yale students. No, this isn’t some bizarre initiation ritual or twisted scavenger hunt; this is one girl’s search for her screw date.
Yale’s screw season has begun. A few residential colleges have already hosted the notorious screw dance, and several more will hold their own soon. Many students find that the screws are a great way to have fun and meet new people in and out of their colleges.
For these traditional dances, roommates pair each other up, or “screw” each other with blind dates. Some people pair their roommates up with friends or acquaintances, while others choose random, attractive-looking people from the Old Campus Facebook. Still other students sidestep tradition all together and tell their roommates to screw them with a particular person.
Next, a plan is devised to identify one’s date. These plans often involve doing something embarressing or just plain strange. Dancegoers use such odd methods as singing, wearing odd clothes, or walking around with random items like underwear to identify each other.
At Trumbull’s screw this year, couples were seen dressed in Hawaiian attire — complete with coconut bras, pineapples, grass skirts, backwards shirts or even wearing underwear on their heads.
Once people meet their dates, they usually go out to dinner or coffee before the dance, or go straight to the screw.
The dances kicked off on Friday, Sept. 29 with the Trumbull screw and the Morse-Stiles screw, which both lasted from 10 p.m. to 1 a.m.
Many dancegoers enjoyed themselves, despite the fact that the dances were a little empty early on.
“The dance got off to a slow start, but once people arrived, the Trumbull screw was a lot of fun,” said Lauren Doline, a Trumbull freshman.
Doline said she had a good time, despite difficulties in finding her date. In order to find him, she had to go door to door in her entryway asking people if they had seen her flip-flop.
Many students said they were pleased with the wide variety of music that was played. For the most part, the disc jockeys played songs by request, so students were able to enjoy an eclectic mix of tunes, encompassing several decades and musical genres.
Some students stayed for the duration of the dance, while others left after only five or ten minutes. Some even chose, after meeting their dates, to not go at all.
“My date and I decided to skip the dance and go to a movie,” says Stiles sophomore Daniel Goff.
Some upperclassmen said they don’t bother with the screws, viewing them as freshman fare. Many students of all ages, however, said they enjoy the screws every year.
There are several screws coming up. The Branford, Davenport and Silliman colleges’ screws are all on Oct. 19, followed by the Calhoun-Jonathan Edwards colleges screw on Oct. 26. Saybrook College’s is scheduled for February. The Freshman Screw is tentatively slated for the second weekend in November. Berkeley and Timothy Dwight colleges have not yet scheduled their dances, and Pierson College traditionally does not hold screws.