Blacking up ban as folk dancers catch up with 21st century

Organizers of one of Britain’s biggest folk festivals announced on Thursday that this year’s event will be the last to feature an age-old tradition of dancers blacking their faces.

The four-day Shrewsbury Folk Festival, which starts on Friday in Shrewsbury, in the English county bordering neighboring Wales, will for the last time allow dancers to wear full-face black makeup.

It followed the threat of legal action from a Shrewsbury-based equality group who complained about the practice of white dancers blacking their faces.

The dancers are part of an old English tradition of Morris Dance that traces its roots back almost 600 years, and is still followed in many counties across the country.

In Shropshire, the tradition of blacked-out faces is said to have started when begging was illegal, with people using black paint to conceal their faces to avoid being recognized.

Border Morris is practiced by dancers from counties adjoining the Welsh border, Herefordshire, Worcestershire and Shropshire, and it is among this community of folk dancers that the tradition of blacked faces has been customary.

But the organizers of the Shrewsbury Folk Festival said from next year there will be no Morris dancing allowed with dancers blacking their full faces.

A spokeswoman for the festival said on Thursday: “After last year’s festival, the festival was accused of racial harassment and threatened with legal action by an organization called FRESH (Fairness and Racial Equality in Shropshire) following performances by Morris sides (teams) wearing full face black make up in the town center.”

The festival finds itself caught between two sides of this opposing argument and believes this is a national issue that should not be focused solely on Shropshire Folk Festival.

“The use of full face black make up is an age old tradition, particularly within Border Morris. The Morris movement has always evolved over time and some sides have made their own decisions to move away from using full face black make up toward other forms of color and disguise,” she said.

There are other ways of celebrating this other than blacking up, which has very strong connotations of racism. Jonathan Hyams, secretary of Fairness and Racial Equality in Shropshire, an equality group

FRESH told local media the ban showed sensitivity “to a changed social climate”.

The group’s secretary Jonathan Hyams, told the Shropshire Star newspaper: “There are other ways of celebrating this other than blacking up, which has very strong connotations of racism and while it was a tradition, it could be seen as offensive by some.”

Blacked-out faces have long been linked with racism, but until the late 20th century they were commonly seen on stage and screen as white performers often blacked up.