Paderborn Cathedral in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. A.Savin/wikimedia FAL
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.