The Morrismen of the Britannia Coconutters dance boundary to boundary in Bacup , Lancashire . Coconut
The Britannia Coco-nut Dancers or Nutters are a troupe of Lancastrian clog dancers who perform every Easter in Bacup, dancing 7 miles (11 km) across the town.[1] There are eight dancers and a whipper-in, who controls the proceedings.[2] Some say the custom was brought to the area by Moors who settled in Cornwall in the 17th century, became miners and then moved to work in quarries in Lancashire. Similar dances are performed in Provence – the Danse des Coco.[3] This troupe was formed as the Tunstead Mill Nutters in 1857 when it was one of a group of five which performed in the Rossendale valley. They passed on their tradition to workers at the Britannia Mill in the 1920s. Their dances feature floral hoops or garlands; the musical accompaniment is provided by a concertina or the Stacksteads Silver Band.[2][4] Their name refers to the wooden nuts worn at their knees, waists and wrists, which are made from the tops of bobbins.[5] These are tapped together like castanets as a percussive accompaniment to the dance, the nuts on the hands striking the nuts on the waist or knees in an intricate and dextrous rhythm.[6] They wear white turbans with blue plumes, dark jerseys and trews, a white baldric, red and white skirts, white hose and black clogs.[7][8][9] Their faces are blackened. This is popularly explained as either a reference to the dancers' ancient origin as Barbary pirates or as a disguise to ward off evil spirits.[7] Theresa Buckland's (1990) research discusses the linkages between the tradition and minstrel shows. She argued that "The 'disguise' function of the costume has most likely been influences by Cecil Sharp's [1911] interpretation of the black face [...] which has been repeated in various publications and ephemera of the English Folk Dance and Song The dancers have been exposed to information from these publications, whether first-hand or further removed." The argument of disguise is used to "explain away" the blackface, while the black faces of
Size: 3861px × 2573px
Location: Bacup , Lancashire , England , UK
Photo credit: © Chris Bull / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No
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