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The 1st World Outgames at the Spring Break Hoedown in Fort Lauderdale

Montréal, 30 March 2005 — Last weekend, representatives from Montreal 2006, the Bolo Club and GLISA attended the semi-annual meeting of the International Association of Gay & Lesbian Country Western Dance Clubs hosted in Fort Lauderdale by Southern Country South Florida. The Fort Lauderdale convention was an excellent opportunity to provide a progress report on the organization of Montréal 2006’s Country Western Dance events.

The 1st Word Outgames obtained the official sanction of IAGLCWDC in July 2004 at the Annual Convention. For the first time in the history of quadrennial LGBT sport events, Montreal will be offering medalled competitions for Country Western Dance as part of the 1st World Outgames in Montréal from 29 July to 5 August 2006.

The weekend was expertly organized and our congratulations go out to the meeting organizers. Country Western Dancers can benefit from the same 10% reduction on the registration fee offered during Spring Break Hoedown by contacting the Outgames by email at culture@montreal2006.org. This special offer will be valid until 29 April 2005.

The Bolo Club will be the hosting club organizing, in collaboration with Montréal 2006, the competition, exhibition, and recreational dance events. The competition and the exhibition dance events will take place from 30 July to 4 August 2006 at the Hilton Bonaventure Grand Ballroom, an exceptional dance venue used during IAGLCWDC 2003 Annual Convention. The Bolo Club hall will also be hosting courses and recreational dancing during the entire week of the 1st World Outgames.

To date, already 100 dancers have registered for Country Western Dance, part of the 4,000 registrants of the 1st World Outgames so far. Lee Fox, the Competition Director of IAGLCWDC has accepted to be the Outgames competition director and we are currently working on setting up the judges’ team.

Country Western Dance events are part of an exciting week-long programme of 4 cultural activities and 35 sports, preceded by a three-day International Conference on LGBT from 26 to 29 July 2006. Some 16,000 participants and 250,000 visitors from 100 countries are expected for this major international event.

IAGLCWDC became a founding member of GLISA during that same July 2004 convention. GLISA now has 52 members from 5 continents.

In the coming weeks, the Organizing Committee of the 1st World Outgames will release the Country Western Dance format for its Opening and Closing Ceremonies. Registered dancers will have the opportunity to perform in a mass dance choreography as part of the ceremonies before the 55,000 spectators at the Olympic Stadium that will be aired on the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation television network. The ceremonies will also make history by being the first international LGBT event to be picked up by networks around the world.

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