German cathedral offers ‘sincere regret’ for chicken dance
A German cathedral chapter apologized this week for hosting a performance featuring semi-clad dancers waving plucked chickens wrapped in diapers.
The chapter of Paderborn Cathedral expressed “sincere regret” May 26 that the performance by the dance ensemble Bodytalk “offended religious feelings.”
“Such an effect was never intended and does not correspond to our expectations of this place with its special religious, historical, and cultural significance,” it said.
The chapter insisted it had been unaware of the “specific content” of the May 15 performance, which marked the opening of an exhibit entitled “775 – Westphalia,” celebrating the 1,250th anniversary of Germany’s historic Westphalia region, which included the city of Paderborn.
“We take the reactions to the performance very seriously and have already begun revising our internal procedures,” the chapter said.
“In future, there will be a revised process for approving events in the cathedral, ensuring a more thorough review of the content.”
“We are deeply sorry for any confusion this may have caused, and we thank everyone who took the time to share their perspective with us.”
During the performance, two shirtless men and a woman wearing a form-fitting, sleeveless white top lifted ready-to-cook chickens out of a metal bowl in front of the cathedral’s altar. The altar was set with a cross and six candles, but the performance did not take place during a liturgy.
One performer sang an a capella version of “Live Is Life,” a 1984 song by the Austrian pop-rock group Opus, while cradling a chicken like a baby. The singer adapted the lyrics, replacing the words “Live is life” with “Fleisch ist Fleisch” (“Meat is meat”).
Meanwhile, the two other performers dandled the chickens on their heads, knees, and chests.
The three dancers then whirled the chickens around vigorously in circles in the sanctuary of the 13th-century cathedral, and threw them in the air before catching them, while an instrumental version of “Live Is Life” played in the background.
According to Bodytalk’s website, the performance was an excerpt from a project called “Westfalen Side Story,” a play on the German word for Westphalia and the musical “West Side Story.” The project’s themes include “animal welfare/sustainability” and “the meat industry (nutrition/ecology/climate change...)”
A spokesperson for the ensemble reportedly explained the performance by noting that Westphalia was a traditionally agricultural region.
“There are many chickens in Westphalia,” the spokesman commented.
German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier was present at the performance, along with Archbishop Udo Markus Bentz, Paderborn’s archbishop since March 2024. The cathedral chapter previously made headlines in 2023, prior to the archbishop’s arrival, when it installed a sign next to two cardinals’ tombs criticizing their handling of abuse cases.
A petition “against the desecration of Paderborn Cathedral,” addressed to Bentz, was launched on the CitizenGo platform May 20.
The petition, which had more than 21,500 signatures by May 29, said: “Whatever the performers wanted to say, it was in any case a desecration of the sacred space and a blasphemy against Christian truths.”
The petition will be forwarded not only to Bentz, but also Archbishop Nikola Eterović, the pope’s representative in Germany.
A May 27 update to the petition acknowledged the cathedral chapter’s apology, but said the initiative’s organizers would continue to seek a “clear statement” about the performance from Bentz.
The German Catholic weekly Die Tagepost said it was not known how President Steinmeier reacted to the performance, “but Archbishop Bentz, as well as numerous invited guests and local media representatives, were reportedly truly appalled by the ensemble’s performance.”
“This is likely why the chapter has now clearly distanced itself from the event, reflecting the immense pressure this must have placed on an otherwise taciturn Church institution,” the newspaper suggested.
The Bodytalk show was not the first controversial performance at a Catholic cathedral in Germany.
The “synodal way,” a multi-year German Church initiative seeking far-reaching changes to Catholic teaching and practice, ended in 2023 with a contemporary dance performance at Frankfurt Cathedral depicting the abuse crisis.
The event, entitled “verantwort:ich” (a play on the German words for “responsible” and “I”), featured black-clad dancers in white masks straining against black ribbons.
The group Maria 1.0, which was critical of the synodal way, described the performance as “satanic.”
“With the Most Holy Sacrament present, they displayed this demonic ‘art performance’ in order to ‘take a stand against sexual abuse in the Church,’” the organization said.
But Beate Gilles, the general secretary of the German bishops’ conference, rejected the criticism.
“It is inconceivable that the performance ‘verantwort:ich’ was called satanic. Of course, we firmly reject this accusation. The combination of testimonies from those affected and the artistic setting was deeply moving,” she said.
Although the Catholic Church in Germany is known for liturgical experimentation, liturgical dance is not especially prevalent, though it has been documented.
An entry on dance in a liturgical lexicon published by Gottesdienst, a German liturgy journal, says: “Despite numerous attempts since the liturgical reform, dance has not been able to establish itself in German-speaking countries as a means of liturgical expression alongside words and music.”
After Vatican Council II, the practice was promoted in some Latin Rite dioceses around the world. But in 1975, the Vatican’s liturgy department discouraged dance in a liturgical context, noting it “has never been made an integral part of the official worship of the Latin Church.”
In 2012, the department underlined its opposition, saying: “The liturgical law of the Roman Rite does not foresee the use of dance or drama within the Sacred Liturgy, unless particular legislation has been enacted by the bishops’ conference and confirmed by the Holy See. Any other practice is to be considered an abuse.”
"There are many chickens in Westphalia."
I can't wait to write a noir, modernist novel with man-versus-machine-style drama in it, in which this phrase is a kind of shibboleth around which the entire plot hangs.
"There are many chickens in Westphalia."
This has to be the weirdest (and funniest) justification ever for having offending performances in front of the Blessed Sacrament.