Clog dancing troupe called the ‘Coco-nutters’ get booted from morris dancing club for refusing to stop blacking up their faces
- Critics have accused them of being racist and said the paint causes ‘deep hurt’
- The Britannia Coconut Dancers insist it is a tradition dating back over a century
- The Joint Morris Organisation (JMO) ruled that members must stop blacking up
A troupe of clog dancers known as the ‘Coco-nutters’ have been kicked out of the national morris dancing organisation for refusing to stop blacking up their faces.
Critics have accused them of being racist and claimed their painted faces could cause ‘deep hurt’ to black people.
But members of the group, officially called The Britannia Coconut Dancers, insist their routine is part of a tradition dating back more than a century and linked to their area’s coal-mining past.
The Britannia Coconut Dancers (pictured), insist their routine is part of a tradition dating back more than a century and linked to their area’s coal-mining past
Every Easter Saturday, they black up to dance behind a brass band on a seven-mile route marking the boundaries of Bacup, Lancashire, calling at every pub along the way.
The dancers claim it harks back to the time local miners danced as they emerged from the pits with their faces blackened by coal dust.
And they have unanimously voted to carry on, saying the tradition was not connected with ‘ethnicity nor any form of racial prejudice’.
Every Easter Saturday, they black up to dance behind a brass band on a seven-mile route marking the boundaries of Bacup, Lancashire, calling at every pub along the way (pictured)
The Joint Morris Organisation (JMO), which represents the country’s 800 dancing ‘sides’, ruled last month that members must stop blacking up in response to the Black Lives Matter campaign.
In a statement they acknowledged ‘full face black or other skin tone make-up is a practice that has the potential to cause deep hurt’.
They said groups that continued to black up would no longer be covered by the JMO’s insurance or invited to take part in events.
They added: ‘Morris is a unique cultural tradition of which we should be rightly proud. We want people from all races and backgrounds to share in this pride and not be made to feel unwelcome or uncomfortable.’
The Bacup group – who get their name from the curved wooden discs called coconuts they bang together while dancing – said they were saddened by the decision.
In a statement, they said: ‘Our age-old tradition is embedded in the hearts and souls of the people of Bacup, Rossendale and overseas.
‘We have discussed the use of black face make-up in great detail and have come to a unanimous decision that this will continue to be part of our unique mining tradition.’
The group were backed by historians, who say the dance is thought to trace its roots to Moorish pirates who settled in Cornwall and became employed in tin mines, before moving to the coal mines of the North.
Professor Ronald Hutton, of Bristol University, said: ‘The disguise was long employed by local British communities who hardly realised there were other human beings of a different colour.’