Ho Chi Minh City-based Dam Sen Water Park is reeling after being handed a performance ban and a civil fine, after it allowed a bikini-clad dance troupe to perform an inappropriate routine in front of children at the beginning of this month.

The park’s operator, Dam Sen Water Park JSC, was fined VND45 million (US$1,980) for the June 4 performance, where dancers in bikinis treated visitors, many of whom were families with children, to a series of provocative moves.

As a result, Dam Sen Water Park has been suspended from holding any art performances for a month starting on June 9, according to the municipal culture department.

“The park was fined for organizing the bikini-clad dance without permission and for holding an event the content of which was against Vietnamese cultural values,” Ton That Can, deputy head of the art division of the culture department, said on Monday.

A video capturing the inappropriate performance went viral on social media on June 4, sparking a barrage of criticism aimed at the park’s management.

Nguyen Minh Thao, head of Dam Sen Water Park’s business department, said that the show was being piloted in order to test the venue’s new ‘fountain stage’.

The park’s management issued a letter of apology last week, claiming that the dancers were expected to wear bikinis and “treat the audience to gentle movements such as belly dance or aerobic steps to enliven the atmosphere and encourage visitors to join.”

“However, the dancers ended up performing improper, sensual moves unsuitable for children and against what they were supposed to do,” the directors admitted.