FRANKFURT—Every year on Good Friday, Germany becomes a little like the fictional town in the movie "Footloose"—dancing is verboten.

The decades old "Tanzverbot," or dance ban, applies to all clubs, discos and other forms of organized dancing in all German states.

In a country that takes pride in its disco traditions—immortalized by Mike Myers's Dieter character in Saturday Night Live's "Sprockets" sketch—the ban has begun to chafe.

At a rally in the center of Frankfurt on Thursday, a couple dozen protesters gathered to call for an end to the ban. The rally's slogan: "I'll let you pray—you let me dance."

Political activists, pirates and a person in a hot-pink bunny costume were all in attendance as observers stopped by booths set up with information in the busy shopping district.