/ 14 September 2004

Disco dress code: Boogie in the buff

As dress codes go, the new rules for the Allen Roc discotheque could not be simpler — leave your clothes behind. All of them.

The club has organised what it claims is Europe’s first nudist disco night, telling bouncers not to admit the bashful and only those prepared to boogie in the buff.

With the first Sunday night naked dance session already advertised for this weekend, the discotheque in the eastern Spanish town of Corneall has received the enthusiastic backing of local nudist groups.

”It will be a place to have a drink, dance, listen to music, chat to friends or meet new people,” a plug on the web-site of the Catalan Naturist Society said on Monday.

”We will be able to enjoy going nude and, always with respect and naturalness, the company of other naturists,” it added.

Club owner Enrique Navarro told Barcelona’s El Periodico newspaper that he hoped to make the nude dancing sessions weekly but that, to begin with, they would be held monthly.

Nobody was available for comment at the discotheque yesterday to say what kind of music it expected to play, or whether bar staff and DJs would be wearing birthday suits as well.

Nor was it clear where clients were expected to leave their clothes, or just what the capacity of the cloakroom was.

The naked disco nights come as Spain’s nudists, who have already claimed stretches of beach around the country for sunbathing, branch out into new activities.

Spain boasted Europe’s first-ever nudist cruise over the summer, as 450 people took a week-long, clothes-free tour of the Mediterranean.

Last weekend 150 nudists took part in a 5 000 metre beach run near the northern town of Sopelana.

Cities like Madrid and Barcelona also boast weekly nudist swimming sessions at municipal pools. – Guardian Unlimited Â