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Britannia Coco-nut Dancers


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. There are eight dancers and a whipper-in, who controls the proceedings.

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 – the Danse des Coco – are performed in Provence. 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. According to the Burnley Gazette, a man named Abraham Spencer (1842–1918) was one of the founders back in 1857, at only 15. 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.

Their name refers to the wooden nuts worn at their knees, waists and wrists, which are made from the tops of bobbins. They are protective work gear for the hands and knees, essential in mining work involving crawling. The waist nut is a spare in case of breakage or loss of the others. 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. They wear white turbans with blue plumes, dark jerseys and trews, a white baldric, red and white skirts, white hose and black clogs.

Their faces are blackened. This is popularly explained as either due to the origins of the dance in the mining community, a reference to the dancers' ancient origin as Barbary pirates or as a disguise to ward off evil spirits. Theresa Buckland's (1990) research discusses the linkages between the tradition and minstrel shows. She argued, "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 Society ... The dancers have been exposed to information from these publications, whether first-hand or further removed." The issue caused controversy in 2014, when local politician Will Straw was photographed with them. He defended the custom: "... it’s traditions from the past which give communities a sense of common identity for the present and the future. May the Coconutters continue for many years to come."


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