The Times - UK (2022-05-02)

the times | Monday May 2 2022 15

News

The Britannia Coconut Dancers took
part in traditional May Day celebra-
tions yesterday despite facing contro-
versy over their blackface make-up.
The clog dancing troupe entertained
crowds in front of the Crown Inn in the
Lancashire village of Bacup, wearing
costumes that resemble those of Morris
dancers.
Their outfits are meant to represent
Moorish pirates, according to the
troupe, which claims to date from the
mid-19th century.
They feature a white, turban-style
hat trimmed with either red or blue
ribbon, alongside blue feathers and a
rosette. The dancers, also known as the
Nutters, wear black polo-neck jumpers
and black velvet breeches with white
knee-length socks. Instead of pirates’
soft moccasins, they wear traditional

deep hurt”. It 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.”

T

he Queen will be

portrayed by a

Singaporean

woman at the

official Platinum

Jubilee pageant to reflect

the diversity of Britain and

the Commonwealth (Jack

Malvern writes).

Janice Ho, 22, a third-

year student at the London

Contemporary Dance

School, has been chosen to

represent the Queen as she

made the transition from

princess to monarch upon

the death of her father.

Organisers of the event

said that they were inspired

by the colour-blind casting

decisions used by the period

drama Bridgerton, which

uses actors from diverse

backgrounds to play

characters that were white

in the novels on which the

series is based.

Ho, whose native

Singapore is part of the

Commonwealth, will

perform with a

6.5m (21ft) tall

dragon puppet

for a sequence on

the Mall in front

of Buckingham

Palace in central

London.

“I’m really

excited to be

able to perform

to such a big

crowd in

countries across the

Commonwealth,” she told

The Telegraph. “London is

such a diverse place and

being able to represent that

is such a great opportunity.”

She said that she would

portray Princess Elizabeth

with a “sense of light-

heartedness”

before she

discovered the

responsibilities of

being the

monarch.

Angie Bual, the

artistic director of Trigger

arts group, which is

producing the dance, said

that Ho was chosen for her

dynamic performance in

the open auditions.

Bual said: “She is a

woman of colour and that is

something we really

strongly stand by. The

Queen is such a role model,

obviously in this country

and internationally, and I

think we need to role model

all types of diversity. It is a

reflection of the make-up of

Britain and London today.”

The pageant, which is

expected to draw a global

television audience of a

billion people, will feature

dancing pineapples, a

reimagining of the royal

wedding as a Bollywood

dance, Cheddar Gorgeous,

a drag queen, and a troupe

named Gangsta Grannies.

that includes a performer

aged 90. There will also be

a large puppet of the Queen

walking her corgis.

Singaporean dancer

to portray Queen

h

he

be

di

re

be

m

artisticdire

Janice Ho will

show Princess

Elizabeth, left

in 1943, as she

becomes Queen

Blackface clog dancers shake off

controversy for May Day knees-up

Jonathan Ames iron-shod miners’ clogs. Controversial-
ly, they all appear in blackface, with the
troupe claiming this refers to both the
Barbary pirate and mining origins of
the celebrations.
Some critics, however, have claimed
that the real origins of the blackface
makeup are the minstrel shows that
were popular in the United States and,
to a lesser extent, in Britain in the first
half of the 20th century.
In 2020, the troupe was sacked from
the Joint Morris Organisation, which
represents 800 dance groups in
England, for refusing to stop blackening
their faces.
The row was triggered by widespread
concern over race issues after the death
of George Floyd in the US and the rise
of the Black Lives Matter movement.
The organisation ruled that “full face
black or other skin tone make-up was a
practice that had the potential to cause

However, last year, the Bacup group

received support from the Lancashire

BME (black and minority ethnic)

Network, which said it did not oppose

the dancers blackening their faces

because it had “never seen it as a racial

thing”.

The Nutters describe themselves as

unique. Their dance routines involve

eight men, each carrying a set of five

“coconuts”, similar to wooden

castanets, attached to their hands,

knees and waists.

The coconuts are tapped together to

create a rhythmical percussive accom-

paniment to the dance, while one non-

dancing character, known as a

“whiffler”, accompanies the perform-

ance with a whip.

The troupe has an international

fanbase, having performed in

Germany, Belgium, Holland, Ireland

and Spain.

Portrait is

just my type,

says Hanks

An artist who used a typewriter to

create a portrait of Tom Hanks was

“blown away” when the artwork was

signed by the Hollywood actor.

James Cook, 25, from Braintree,

Essex, creates “typicitions”, or typed-

depictions, using a random assortment

of letters, numbers and punctuation

marks to form an image using a type-

writer.

Cook sent a portrait to the Oscar-

winning actor, who is a fellow typewrit-

er enthusiast, but admitted he “forgot

about it” until he received an unexpect-

ed letter in the post.

“I appeared on a US programme

called The Kelly Clarkson Show back in

November 2020 and I was asked to do a

portrait and they would have to guess

who the celebrity was,” Cook said.

“Tom Hanks had previously been a

guest on the show and I said ‘you know

he collects typewriters’ and they said

they would have rescheduled his inter-

view with mine if they had known.

“I thought I’d give it a shot and sent

him the print of his portrait with a type-

written letter explaining my profession,

but after that I completely forgot about

it. I was blown away when I got my print

returned with his autograph and a short

message.”

The message handwritten by Hanks,

who reportedly owns more than 120

typewriters, read: “To James Cook. This

is super! Tom Hanks.”

Cook creates his unusual artworks as

a full-time job at his studio in Trinity

Buoy Wharf, east London, where

people can visit to see his work and view

his collection of about 40 typewriters.

Man stabbed

to death after

bar brawl

A man in his thirties was stabbed to

death in what police described as a

“shocking and brutal act of violence” in

Greenwich, southeast London.

Police were called to Greenwich

High Road at 2.15am yesterday. The

man was taken to hospital but died soon

afterwards. They believe the victim,

whose family have been informed, was

stabbed following a fight near the

entrance of Belushi’s bar, where he was

a regular.

A 29-year-old man from Lewisham,

southeast London, was arrested on

suspicion of murder.

Detective Chief Inspector Steve May,

of the British Transport Police, said:

“Officers are working tirelessly to lo-

cate the person responsible and I would

urge anyone who may have witnessed

what happened, or the events leading

up to it, to get in touch with us as soon

as possible.”

A post-mortem examination will be

carried out.

ELLA JUDGE PHOTOGRAPHY

The Coconut Dancers entertained

crowds in Lancashire yesterday

James Cook used a typewriter to

create this image of Tom Hanks