The event is Swingin' With the Primates, a dance party thrown by the Friends of the National Zoo, but primates couldn't keep up with this crowd. You don't have to be a member of FONZ, the zoo's benefactor group, to attend. You don't have to be single either, although most people are. Early in the evening, the hourlong dance lesson is a perfect icebreaker. Every two minutes or so, the men rotate to a new partner and introduce themselves.
Few neckties are in evidence, and the one guy in a suit jacket soon tosses it over a bench.
Most of the women are in slacks or sundresses. Summer in Washington, and the minglin' is easy. She's just met a seersuckered Hugh Grant lookalike and his former housemate, Jim. Even those sitting still are having a good time. Every chair is filled inside Think Tank, where biologist Rob Shumaker is explaining how he's taught the orangutan Indah to communicate via computer screen.