Strasbourg: a "pole dance" show reprogrammed in a church, despite death threats

"We are committed to hosting original and cultural events to attract younger faithful. It is not these death threats that will make us back down. The pastor of the Saint-Guillaume church in Strasbourg had warned us, he will not give in to the threats. He confirmed on Tuesday at the microphone of France Bleu Alsace that he had rescheduled the pole dance show scheduled for May 31, as well as June 8 and 9.

Read alsoWe attended a pole dance class, a physical and demanding discipline, far from clichés

"It was two evenings mixing organ, singing and pole dancing," Pastor Didier Bossenbacher explained to us at the beginning of April. This programming had earned him a flood of criticism, including two letters of death threats. "In one letter, one could read that parishioners had to be beheaded and that our church was a cabaret. And on another sheet slipped under the door, an anonymous writing called to cut off my head, "said the pastor.

"All arts have their place in a church"

Ineffective and intolerable threats, therefore, even if the pastor understands the criticism. "It's true that pole dancing is a first. There may be reluctance, quick shortcuts, because pole dance we often think of cabaret, striptease or other, which is not at all the case. I heard rumors that the artist would be completely naked, which is totally false, "he told France Bleu Alsace.

Despite death threats, a church in Strasbourg reschedules its opera and pole dance
➡️ concert https://t.co/Ua7ntLPrZY pic.twitter.com/xLX2Z5IRWI

— France Bleu Alsace (@bleualsace) May 30, 2023

The acrobat, Vincent Grobelny, European pole dance champion and circus artist, assured, on the contrary, that his show had its place in a church. "Pole dancing is a sport and an art. There is nothing suggestive at all. This is part of the circus activities, like a juggler or a trapeze artist. All arts have their place in a church, we see painting, we hear music, writing, dance is part of it. »