The Arthur Murray Dance Studio in Alexandria has a great deal for the budget-conscious ballroom dancer: Find a friend to take to the studio’s free “Guest Night Party.” Let Arthur Murray’s expert instructors school your guest in the basics of dancing. After the event, your guest will be offered an assortment of dance-lesson packages.

If your guest bites on the deal, you get a free session at the studio.

The ins and outs of Arthur Murray’s promotions are the expertise of an area woman who frequents the free online dating site OKCupid. The woman goes by the username “Fieldofdaffodil” and also deploys flowery prose to lure prospective mates on the Web.

Earlier this summer, Fieldofdaffodil engaged in an intense correspondence with a 38-year-old man who signs onto OKCupid with the handle Survivingthegam. The exchanges were classic Internet romance grist—for about five days they traded long, flirty e-mails and IMs wherein the two discussed their lives, their hopes and dreams, and all the other things that a person is wont to share with a stranger in the small hours of morning. They discussed meeting in person. Then Fieldofdaffodil told Survivingthegam that she loathed first dates at Starbucks and that only by dancing together could she find out if she and her date had any chemistry.... Continued