Who in Amsterdam didn’t know the string skater? Henri Pronker, his real name, was a swirling mystery and wanted to be a symbol of Amsterdam’s freedom.
He was a bird of paradise. And as he saw it himself, the string skater from Amsterdam who swung through the city for decades with his bare buttocks and tanned legs: a symbol of freedom. This is how he hoped to be remembered, to achieve at least figuratively the immortality he long aspired to literally.
Who was he, the string skater who has increasingly disappeared from the cityscape in recent years? First because, after a fall, he felt that his skating was no longer smooth enough, which led him to the ragged edges of the night. Later because he became seriously ill, although he initially did not accept the diagnosis of cancer and regular treatment.
His real name was Henri Pronker. With his mop of blonde hair, hidden under a cap when skating, and surprisingly petite in sneakers, you wouldn’t recognize the “skater with the ass lace” who first popped up in the city in the late 1980s. To some he was repugnant and provocative, to others he became an anti-hero or – indeed – a symbol of the freedom of Amsterdam.
Supporting role in action thriller by Dick Maas
In 1997, the string skater was asked to be the crowd puller for the first Amsterdam Friday Night Skate tours. Pronker has more claims to fame. He is included in the international film database IMDb for a supporting role – as, yes, a ‘bare-bottomed skater’ – in the action thriller Don’t disturb (1999) by Dick Maas.
He can be seen skating on film projections that were used as background for the performance Zunder title by Wim T. Schippers in 2001. If creepiest skater ever he was captured in a black and white pen drawing on Rembrandtplein in 2010 by the New Zealand illustrator Toby Morris in his book Everyday, 333 Drawings of A Year in Amsterdam.
In the early nineties he was already the subject of the television program Birds of paradise by Arnold-Jan Scheer. In it he told – 35 years old – about his ambition to become immortal and a giant of 2.20 meters. To put it mildly, ‘a worthless fairground attraction’, in retrospect, Pronker thought of the way in which he had allowed himself to be portrayed. “The only thing I still like about the program is that you see me skating, cycling and working out. Because that’s what I stand for.”
It had taught him not to come forward in the media anymore. Of The parole he finally wanted to speak once in 2014, because he was struck by the fact that people apparently missed him on the street when he was invisible for a while after the fall. Countless reports on social media: ‘Where did our half-naked skater go?’ He discovered that he, “anonymous morning star,” was more of a phenomenon than he had realized.
In a more puritanical Amsterdam
He experienced his heyday in the nineties. The time when he still had advertisements applied to his immense thighs – ‘for kicks’. The skates and leather silver thong elongated his legs, he thought, his appearance should be one of health and strength.
But in an increasingly puritanical Amsterdam, Pronker was increasingly reviled. That made him more hesitant to go out in daylight. In his last skating years he avoided the hectic pace and fine dust in the city, the scooters and the traffic lights.
Talk to The parole
Do you have a fond memory of the string skater? And what do you think he meant for the city? Share it with us in no more than 150 words [email protected]. Some of the entries will be published on Parool.nl and in the newspaper.
He was an intelligent and idiosyncratic man, well-versed in the alternative medicine he advocated and dismissive of the mainstream medical care that nevertheless extended his life when he was diagnosed with a terminal illness. He was also lonely; struggling with traumas from his past, stubborn and fickle, he alienated people who tried to help him.
Let the string skater remain a mystery, he once said. A snapshot for those who saw him skating, a flash, an observation where everyone was allowed to have their own thoughts. “I belong to the living street furniture of Amsterdam. Who else I am, people can guess.
In the night from Wednesday to Thursday, Pronker passed away at the age of 66.
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