What happens when there are only women at a party?

Caldes de Malavella (Jungle)Just over six months ago, Mujeres Valentes (Brave Women) was born in La Garrotxa, a WhatsApp group that has now grown into a community of more than 200 members and is spreading to other regions. In a similar spirit, this summer the first edition of La Conectada (The Connected) was held in the gardens of the Vichy Catalan spa in Caldes de Malavella (Selva). This party was designed just for women, where people can establish real and authentic connections, sing and dance without the pressure of trying to flirt.

The first event brought together sixty women of a wide range of ages, from their thirties to their seventies, but with a large presence of women, especially those who were divorced and around fifty-five. All of them were eager to meet other women with similar affinities, establish networks, and escape the monotony. This was the objective that the Cites Ràpides team set when they proposed the idea of offering a different product. They are a company from Maresme that was born from an after-dinner conversation among friends and has become an antidote to Tinder, which is triumphing throughout Catalonia. They seek to "lovingly" connect people from all over the country with Catalan as the vehicular language.

The Cites Ràpides meetings began with the method ofspeed dating, seven-minute encounters to decide if you wanted to continue getting to know someone. Then, at dusk, they moved on to age groups. But as Pau Bartrolí, founder along with his twin brother, Ricard, explains, they found that there was an age group (from 55 onwards) in which there were many more requests from women than men looking for a partner. And they ended up on a waiting list or couldn't offer them a solution.

And so La Connectada was born. Aïda (a fictitious name to protect her identity) decided to take a getaway with a friend from the Tierras de Lleida to Tossa de Mar to participate in the evening and perform some dance moves. "I love the format because it takes the pressure off, and what I want at my age is to meet friends, after 30 years with a partner," she explains. The same thing was happening to Núria, from Sabadell, who had decided to get out of her "comfort zone."

There were also more young people looking to party and let loose without the pressure of having to be friends. At one of the many get-to-know-you activities, Maite, 68, took the microphone to highlight how great it is to be alone if you have good friends. According to Cites Ràpides, a total of 41 people came out of the meeting. matchThat is: female couples who exchanged cell phones through the app, in addition to those who exchanged phones for the party and the various WhatsApp groups that have already been created. Following the success of the first event, Cites Ràpides is already planning new women-only parties for September.