BOISE, ID – Police raided a strip club in Boise, Idaho on Monday night, citing three dancers with misdemeanors for allegedly violating a city anti-nudity ordinance. The citations came in spite of a novel attempt from Erotic City gentleman’s club to get around the ordinance by adding “artistic merit” to the shows.The ordinance requires dancers to wear pasties and a thong unless they are participating in a performance that contains “serious artistic merit.” Erotic City had challenged the ordinance by turning two nights a week into “art nights” that feature nude dancing. During these “art nights,” club patrons are provided with pencils and sketch pads and are invited to draw pictures of the women while they dance.

“It’s actually pretty clear in the city ordinance that there are exemptions for dance and theater and artistic merits, but the law also clearly states that the exemption does not apply to adult businesses,” said police spokeswoman Lynn Hightower. “If it were an art studio and models were actually posing, that would be one thing. But these women weren’t posing. They were dancing.”

None of the dancers were arrested.