'They're artists!' Furious father of British pole dancer who was arrested with four others for 'degrading' a World Heritage site insist they were creating art
A troupe of pole dancers who were arrested in Corfu after undertaking a scantily-clad photo shoot in front of a historic Greek landmark were creating 'art', according to one of their fathers.
A video of the racy performance went viral as onlookers watched the half-naked women outside the Old Palace of St. Michael and St. George in the early hours of the morning.
One of the clips even showed two women balancing together on a pole in bright red underwear by the 200-year-old UNESCO heritage site.
They have since been charged with violating archaeological law and degrading the surrounding area, but the father insists someone within foreign authorities 'has got it in for them'.
Steve Gunter-Zak's daughter, Imogen, 30, was one of the five women forced to endure three days in Greek prison after being arrested.
Sharon Randell, 57, Alisha Haddrell, 32, Katie Clark, 40, and a German woman all joined Imogen behind bars.
But Mr Gunter-Zak has claimed the women were led on by a photographer who encouraged them to use the site as an idyllic backdrop.
He told The Sun: 'They had no idea it was wrong to be performing where they were. I believe this has been driven by politics. Someone in authority has got it in for them.
'But these women are not scrubbers. They're not tarts and their dancing is not sexual. It's performance art.'
Two of the women, which the newspaper believes to be Imogen, of Worcester, and Sharon, of Faringdon, Oxon, were given six-month suspended jail terms.
Both have since appealed and their lawyer Makis Grammenos is confident he can secure a positive outcome, saying they 'didn't need to spend three nights in cells'.
The dancers had been visiting the island as part of a 'pole dancing vacation' that takes place every over the last two weeks of May and is set up by a British holiday organiser.
And after realising their video had gone viral, Mr Gunter-Zak said the group went to a police station to confess what had happened where they were immediately charged.
Steve also said that his daughter had not even danced during the ordeal, adding that they were only there to train the women.
Three of the women have since apologised on camera.
The Municipality of Corfu and the Museum of Asian Art are also said to have filed a lawsuit against the dancers.
Local outlet ProtoThema said at the time: 'Understandably, there were several reactions regarding who gave permission for such a photo shoot in the city centre.'
The former royal residence, commissioned by British Lord High Commissioner Sir Thomas Maitland and designed by Colonel George Whitmore, holds pride of place in the Old Town of Corfu, a UNESCO World Heritage site.
Dozens of residents expressed online fury over the 'disgraceful' photo shoot taking place outside the historic palace with some claiming the dancers were British.
'The Corfu Palaces: they once hosted royals. Now, pole dancing,' commenter Panagiotis Kalogeros wrote on Facebook.
'If Lord Byron saw pole dancing at the Palaces, he would have returned to England without a second thought.'
'Would they do the same at Buckingham [Palace]?' wrote another.
One poster also raised concerns about how the pole was supported, fearing 'that they pierced the slabs in the ground' to hold it in place.
There was no evidence the site had been damaged.
The Palace of St. Michael and St. George was designed by British architects in the early 19th century, using neoclassical styles typical of the time.
For more than two centuries it has stood in the old city of Corfu, which has been on the UNESCO World Heritage List since 2007.
The building is still in use today and remains a well preserved instance of Regency architecture towards the end of the Georgian period.
Greek users on Facebook were anxious that part of the site could have been damaged during the photo shoot, several asking how they gained permission.
'Did the permanent residents of the historic centre and their association take a position for this event?' one asked.
'Who gave the permission slip???' said another. 'Someone should call the police,' added a third.
The Directorate of the Museum of Asian Art, today housed inside the palace, was unaware of the event, say local media.
Not all criticised the dancers for performing outside the historic building, however.
User Bill Metallinos defended the performance. 'Basically, what we see is the backstage of some photography,' he said of the video.
'Otherwise dancing is part of culture. It's just that this one is misunderstood...
'Yes the concept offends the monument but as an open space unguarded and unmarked disappointing swimsuits or extra items I see no reason someone who wants to take photos to be banned, it is an open public space.
'But to see how hypocrit[ical] we are, we have passed a road of heavy vehicles through the Palace and under its Arch and we are sending all the exhaust pollution to Tufopetra that has been consumed by all this fuel gas...
'And instead of shouting about the damage we are doing to it we ourselves are shouting about the photography that was done by some professionals in the area.
'In the end, who damages the monument? Them or us?'
Another user disagreed and expanded: 'What do traditional dances have to do with stripping there? Me personally if my daughter was there I would be ashamed.'
The palace in Corfu was built over a five year period in the immediate aftermath of the Napoleonic Wars.
The defeat of Napoleon at Waterloo in 1815 saw the Ionian Islands, including Corfu, become a protectorate of the UK through the Treaty of Paris.
In turn, Corfu became the seat of the British Lord High Commissioner of the Ionian Islands.
In turn, Corfu became the seat of the British Lord High Commissioner of the Ionian Islands.
It was Sir Thomas Maitland who commissioned the Palace of St. Michael and St. George as the official residence for the Lord High Commissioner.
There was a boom in Regency architecture building across Britain and its overseas holdings after the end of the Napoleonic Wars as government spending steadily recovered and timber shortages eased without the war demand.
Closer to home, examples of Regency architecture can be seen in the work of John Nash across London.
Britain revived some of the classical architectural styles of the Greeks and Romans during its imperial rise, after architects like Inigo Jones brought back to the British Isles techniques recovered by the Italians through the 16th and 17th centuries.
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